by Thomas Hedlund

Cyber Lane (Raja Mirchi) dominated the big races for 4-year-olds in Sweden last year and on Sunday afternoon, the Johan Untersteiner-trained Raja Mirchi son won the Copenhagen Cup in Denmark.

From post 4 behind the gate, Cyber Lane opened quickly for the lead and Johan Untersteiner was allowed to keep the pace down until a quarter to go in the 1.3-mile race.

Cruzado dela Noche attacked three wide from third over with 700 meters to go and the son of Muscle Massive showed great speed when he easily passed Mindyourvalue W.F. before the last turn. But the long speed cost power and Cruzado dela Noche couldn’t challenge the leader, who instead sprinted home to an easy victory in mile rate 1:54.4.

Danish hope Takethem was placed behind the winner and finished strongly to the silver medal for trainer Steen Juul.

Top trotters say no to Elitloppet

No Readly Express. No Cyber Lane. No Urlo dei Venti.

Instead, Volstead and Dreamoko are ready for Elitloppet.

Johan Untersteiner chose to decline the invitation to the Elitlopp some days after the victory in the Copenhagen Cup.

“The Elitloppet comes too early for the horse and we’re aiming for Jubileumspokalen and The International Trot later this year,” said Untersteiner.

Timo Nurmos, trainer of Prix d’Amérique winner Readly Express, said no thanks to the Elitloppet on Tuesday afternoon. Readly Express has served as a stud during the spring and the horse isn’t ready for the big race, yet.

Stefan Melander’s Volstead and Richard Westerink’s Dreamoko got their invitations in the beginning of this week. Late on Wednesday, a horse from Denmark was invited. Steen Juul-trained Takethem finished second behind Cyber Lane in Copenhagen Cup last Sunday and will represent Denmark at the Elitloppet.

Later on last Wednesday evening, Propulsion made his last start before the Elitlopp and with Örjan Kihlström in the bike the 7-year-old son of Muscle Hill won from position first over in 1:52.2 over an approximate mile.

”The horse is just as good as we can expect 12 days before the big race and it’s stimulating to have a horse that can win Elitloppet this year,” said Kihlström after the victory in the Meadow Roads race at Solvalla.

Invited horses:

Bold Eagle – France
Uza Josselyn – Switzerland
Propulsion – Sweden
Ringostarr Treb – Italy
Pastore Bob – Sweden
Maori Time – Australia
Nadal Broline – Sweden, Finland
Volstead – Sweden
Dreamoko – France
Takethem – Denmark

Victory for Bazire

Jean-Michel Bazire trained Aubrion du Gers (Memphis du Rib) won the Prix des Ducs de Normandie ($165,000) in Caen, France on Wednesday afternoon.

The 8-year-old gelding won easily from the lead and now Bazire aims for Oslo Grand Prix in June with Aubrion du Gers.

Amiral Sacha was third in Prix des Ducs de Normandie and got an invitation for the Elitlopp afterwards.

Same day, two other horses were invited for the sprinter party at Solvalla next week. 5-year-old German bred Orlando Jet, trained by Rudolf Haller, has not had much experience from big races, but likes to win and will participate as a real rookie in Elitloppet.

Norwegian owned and bred Lionel is more used to tough fights on the track and he also got an invitation for the Elitloppet on Wednesday afternoon.