Francesco Zet fifth horse to be invited to Elitloppet

He was played as a favorite in the final last year – now he gets a chance for harness racing revenge.

Francesco Zet (Father Patrick) is the fifth horse to be invited to the last Sunday in May.

“He is a fantastic horse who broke a world record last year and this year he is sharpened to run very fast in the Elitloppet,” says Anders Malmrot.

When Francesco Zet took the lead in the final, many thought it would be a Swedish victory in the Elitloppet 2024, but when the smoke cleared, it ended up being a fourth place in his Elitloppet debut behind the French winner Horsy Dream. After last year’s start in the Elitloppet, he then won the million-dollar races Norrbottens Stora Pris and Sundsvall Open Trot – where Francesco Zet was noted for the new world record of 1.09.4 over 2140 meters with autostart. In this incredible performance, he defeated, among others, the Elitloppet runner-up Borups Victory.

In between, he was second in the Åby World Grand Prix, again behind Horsy Dream, and on the list of achievements there are a total of ten million-dollar victories for the seven-year-old stallion who has exceeded 23 million kronor in winnings so far during his fantastic career – the wins in the Svenskt Travkriterium and the Svenskt Travderby are the two biggest with four million kronor in first prize.

Elitloppet manager Anders Malmrot announced via a link from Solvalla’s top competitions on Saturday in V75 Direkt on TV4 that Francesco Zet is the fifth horse to receive a pink ticket for this year’s edition – the second Swedish horse so far in Elitloppet 2025.

Solvalla trainer Daniel Redén won Elitloppet 2021 with Don Fanucci Zet and now has a new chance to win the world’s biggest sprint race.
– He has a little more muscle, is better calibrated and I am incredibly excited about what we will see on the track from Francesco Zet, says Daniel Redén.

Facts Francesco Zet
Age: 7 years
Sex: Stallion Father
: Father Patrick
Mother: Shaqline
Starter/Result: 31 (25-2-1)
Earned: 23,355,000 SEK
Record: 1.08.7 autostart (1609m)
Owner: Stall Zet (Daniel Redén)
Trainer: Daniel Redén
Groom: Carolina Persson
Breeder: Brixton Medical AB (Daniel Redén)
Nationality: Swedish

Elitloppet is the main attraction during the Elitlopp weekend which is arranged at Solvalla in Stockholm on 23-25 May 2025. Elitloppet is an invitational race where 16 horses compete in two different trials with eight horses in each. The top four in each trial meet in a final where the winner receives five million SEK.

Invited horses for Elitloppet 2025: Go On Boy (France), Logan Park (Canada), Borups Victory (Sweden), The Locomotive (Australia), Francesco Zet (Sweden)

From Elitloppet