Out of heartbreak comes hope and respect for top trotter

Out of heartbreak comes hope and respect for Australia’s top harness racing trotter Just Believe (Orlando Vici) in Sweden.

It was always going to be a huge challenge against the world’s best trotters from an awful barrier, but the luck that Just Believe and driver Greg Sugars so badly needed deserted them in last night’s Elitloppet at Solvalla in Stockholm.

Three crunch moments were Just Believe’s undoing. The first was drawing wide (gate seven), the second when Sugars went oh so close to settling fourth in the running line and cruellest came when tightened and he clipped a wheel before galloping on the home bend and finishing tailed-out.

While Sugars was “pretty devastated”, local experts saw enough in Just Believe’s performance to urge his connections to stay and chase more races in Scandinavia before returning home.

Once the disappointment subsided, Sugars confirmed Just Believe would stay for at least one more race, the favoured options being the Group 1 Oslo Grand Prix in two weeks.

“Everyone saw he was a really good horse, but unfortunately it didn’t show in his placing,” Swedish form expert Dennis Engelbo said. “I understand they are feeling down, but for me we saw he was competing very well against the world’s best.

“I hope he stays. There are a lot of good races for him and I know they have an option of going home in mid-July.”

Norwegian journalist Chris Nilsen added: “He showed he’s good enough to race here. The Elitloppet is the hardest (trotting) race in the world and he wasn’t embarrassed at all. He would’ve run fifth without the break (gallop).

“If I was the owners, I’d go to the Oslo Grand Prix and stay for another two, three or four races. He definitely showed enough to say he’s good enough.”

Sugars said a decision would be made in the next couple of days on what race Just Believe goes to next.

“He showed he was to the task, but it just didn’t work out in the end,” he said/

“We’re keen on taking in more racing, but just not sure where, Two Swedish tracks have shown plenty of interest as the Oslo people and the Finland club have invited us to their Group 1 race.”

Sugars conceded it took a while to recover from the heartbreak of the Elitloppet heat.

“It was pretty devastating and quite a sick feeling when he contacted the sulky and made a break at the 300m, mainly because he was travelling so well and had plenty of finishing power left,” he said.

“I know him pretty well and he had plenty of run left in his legs if we had clean running.”

So, what happened?

“I wanted to drive him positively and came out hard, we got so close to getting into the running line just behind the leaders, but the inside horse kept me out and I had to drag back to last,” Sugars said.

“He felt strong coming to the final bend and I was mindful of not crowding the horse on my outside when I went for a run, just as I did, that horse moved down a bit and the horse I was following moved out a fraction and I clipped its wheel.

“Sometimes it’s a game of inches and today those inches were against us.”

More broadly, Sugars insists Just Believe’s performance is a great pointer to the future.

“It shows a lot of horses in Australia and NZ will be able to compete at this level in years to come,” he said.

“We haven’t been head and shoulders above the competition at home so it’s a real positive to take out that in the Southern Hemisphere, our horses aren’t that far behind these Europeans anymore.

“Hopefully as our breeds continue to improve and our trainers become smarter and better with trotters, we will be able to come back and compete at this highest of levels, which is incredible.”

Hohneck won last night’s Elitloppet final to make it two years in a row for French raiders. The French have now won 24 finals, just one behind host country Sweden.

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Australia