It was trainer Alessandro Gocciadoro in the winner’s circle, as usual.

by Thomas Hedlund

Solvalla’s sparkling weekend show, with today’s (May 28) Elitloppet as the highlight, had a great start when the $135,000 Sweden Cup was held on Saturday’s (May 27) card.

Three elimination heats were held and Tomas Malmqvist-trained Invictus Madiba (Booster Winner) impressed in the first race as he disarmed leading favorite Bepi Bi in the stretch.

Iceland Falls (Iceland) impressed as much in her elimination. A first over trip didn’t stop her from being strongest and Four Guys Dream (Dream Vacation) claimed the last elimination from the lead.

No Alessandro Gocciadoro horses won in the heats, but in the final, he had three weapons in Bepi Bi, Bengurion Jet and Synergy (nicely driven by Dexter Dunn in the elimination).

Iceland Falls opened quickly for the lead when the car left the field in the final, but an eager Bepi Bi on the outside made the race high paced and the leader was never allowed to rest during the journey.

Italian-bred Callmethebreeze attacked from second over in the middle of the last turn and four wide Bengurion Jet got the signal from Alessandro Gocciadoro at the same time. Iceland Falls battled bravely but she was marked by the high pace and Callmethebreeze and Bengurion Jet were the horses that fought for the win as the wire approached.

Bengurion Jet caught the Sweden Cup trophy in 1:51.3 and this particular race is something that Gocciadoro often wins. Last year, his Bepi Bi was outstanding in both elimination and final and earlier years he’s been successful with Arazi Boko.

Callmethebreeze was a good runner up and Iceland Falls a very brave bronze medalist.

DJUSE AND MALMQVIST SUCCEEDED IN HARPER HANOVERS

The $187,500 Harper Hanovers race over 3,140 meters is traditionally one of Elitloppet weekend’s most thrilling races and this year’s edition became a great success for trainer Tomas Malmqvist and driver Magnus A Djuse. Eric The Eel (Muscle Hill) with merits from France, got a trip far back in the field and Djuse followed behind horses three wide when a kilometer remained of the race.

Imperatur Am and Kentucky River, both among the race’s favorites, were the two front horses and leader Imperatur Am’s driver, Magnus Teien Gundersen, tried to speed up the game the longer the race went on, but outside trotter Kentucky River was hard to get rid of and when they turned for home, it seemed like one of these two trotters would be the winner. Instead, Eric The Eel finished strongly from the far outside and Malmqvist’s horse came home in a mile rate of 1:56 over 1.9 miles.

Kentucky River held strongly as runner up and leader Imperatur Am was third.

IDAO DE TILLARD IS BACK

Idao de Tillard (Severino) was one of the favorites to win the Prix d’Amérique in Paris in January and the Thierry Duvaldestin-trained trotter made his comeback at the track on Friday (May 26) night at Vincennes.

A perfect second over trip and a quick attack towards leader Elie de Beaufour 600 meters to go resulted in a tight, but safe win in strong mile rate 1:56.2 over 1.7 miles.

DUNN IS SATISFIED WITH HIS EUROPEAN TRIP

Dexter Dunn showed up at Solvalla on Saturday’s race card and his first drives in Sweden were impressive. Longshot Synergy finished third and qualified for the Sweden Cup final after a perfect drive on Dunn’s part. In the Lady Snärts lopp, Dunn was entrusted with German trotter Riet Hazelaar and after a spotless performance by Dunn, the duo finished second behind a superior Zeudi Amg (Alessandro Gocciadoro).

”I’m enjoying this event and my journey very much. I’m satisfied with everything so far and the atmosphere is fantastic here at Solvalla,” said Dunn after the final of the Sweden Cup where he finished last with Synergy.

SAN MOTEUR THE FAVORITE TO WIN ELITLOPPET

Björn Goop-trained San Moteur (Panne de Moteur) will most likely be the bettors’ favorite to win today’s Elitloppet, even if this year’s edition of the race is more open than most of the previous ones.

The mix of drivers from basically all over the world will be a factor that the bettors will have to consider when the bets are placed.

On Saturday night, the odds finding the winner of Elitloppet looked like this:

Best Ofdream Trio — 45.50

Ultion Face — 39.50

Just Believe — 64.00

Go On Boy — 27.50

Usain Töll — 71.00

Mister Hercules — 42.00

Brother Bill — 16.00

San Moteur — 3.50

Stoletheshow — 56.00

Önas Prince — 7.50

Hail Mary — 8.00

Don Fanucci Zet — 7.00

Hohneck — 8.50

Vernissage Grif — 24.50

Etonnant — 9.00

Vivid Wise As — 42.00

HOW TO WATCH TODAY’S ELITLOPPET

Thanks to Hambletonian Society COO Moira Fanning for posting on social media how to watch today’s Elitloppet card in the United States.

Fanning reports you can watch on just about any ADW platform, including TVG, FanDuel, RTN or RacingDay.com (which also has free PPs).

Keep in mind, Sweden is six hours ahead of the eastern time zone.

The schedule for today’s races is as follows in eastern time:

3:45 a.m. – Solvalla gates open

5 a.m. — Ponnylopp B

5:55 a.m. — Opening Ceremony

6:45 a.m. — Race 1 — Speedrace

9 a.m. — Race 5 — Elitkampen

9:28 a.m. — Race 6 — Elitloppet heat 1

9:55 a.m. — Race 7 — Elitloppet heat 2

10:30 a.m. — Draw for Elitloppet final

11:45 a.m. — Race 11 — Elitloppet final

12:40 a.m. — Race 13 — Last race of the day