by Thomas Hedlund

No other trotter has been faster in Europe, ever. Alessandro Gocciadoro won the $220,000 Criterium de Vitesse in Cagnes-sur-Mer on Sunday (March 10) afternoon, but the winning horse was not the expected one. His Vivid Wise As chased his fourth win in the prestigious race, but as it turned out, Gocciadoro sat behind the winner himself. Vernissage Grif (Varenne) has been in the game for a long time now and from post 1 behind the gate, Gocciadoro managed to keep the lead with the chestnut trotter.

And nothing really happened along the way in the Criterium de Vitesse. Vernissage Grif was more or less outstanding when he hit the lead and quick finishers Emeraude de Bais and Go On Boy had too many lengths to make up with the leader, so the victory became safe in a European record time of 1:49.3!

Replay here.

Pretty much the entire field was gathered, not far behind the winner at the wire and this makes one wonder if the time is right? So, after checking the race 10 times, measuring the time from photo wire-to-wire (1,288 meters according to official reports in France), Vernissage Grif went the distance in 1 minute, 30 seconds and 66 hundreds of a second, meaning that the mile rate for the winner landed on 1:53.2 over 1,288 meters. We can agree on one thing, that it’s highly improbable that the race’s first 321 meters would have reached pace levels that ends up in a 1:49.3 mile.

But the winner was undisputed. The best horse won and it’s not Vernissage Grif’s or Gocciadoro’s fault that the chronometer in Cagnes-sur-Mer seemed a bit out of order.

MEMORIES OF 1981 ELITLOPPET DAY

In 1981, my mother forbade me to follow my dad to Solvalla when I wanted to the most. I had been introduced to the event Elitloppet, live, the year before and fell in love with it the year before that, in 1979 when Berndt Lindstedt steered Pershing to victory in front of many thousands of spectators.

The next year, 1980… well I don’t remember so much from that day at Solvalla, but my longing for the 1981 edition started probably pretty soon after leaving the arena that day. But I wasn’t allowed to go. My mother thought it was a better idea to let her 7-year-old son be her sidekick in the car as she had to visit grandmother on Mother’s Day, some 50 miles from home.

And even if it was a long time ago, I still remember this day and remember nothing positive and fun at all. My mother was a terrible driver to start with and in addition to that, no Elitloppet.

And if I could turn back time, visiting one particular race day that I’ve missed, it would be the 1981 Elitloppet.

Americans coming to European harness racing events has always fascinated me, so one can say that I truly missed something very special as I, probably, was served raspberry juice and cinnamon rolls at grandmother’s place.

Three of the all-time best trainers/drivers from America were participating in Elitloppet the same year and the best of it all was that a fresh Hambletonian winner was invited to the race.

Billy Haughton, Delvin Miller and Joe O’Brien, were competing at the same time at Solvalla. O’Brien had presented himself in front of the big audience in 1973’s Elitloppet, when he won one elimination with Flower Child and even as a winner with Fresh Yankee in 1969.

Billy Haughton won an elimination heat with Keystone Pioneer in 1977; so, there had been American celebrities at Solvalla before 1981. Now, they were three of the best ever and I wasn’t there.

How did it go? Hambletonian winner Burgomeister won his elimination in the hands of Haughton, but the final became more or less miserable for the American contribution in the race.

The replay of Burgomeister from post 2 in the 1981 Elitloppet final can be viewed here.

O’Brien and Miller never reached the final with Glenquin and Devil Hanover, respectively, but they surely brightened up an already sunny day at Solvalla in 1981.

This is the first of many short stories about Americans in Europe. More to come next week.