by Thomas Hedlund

French star Idao de Tillard became the first horse invited to Elitloppet 2024 and two weeks later, on Saturday (March 16), Solvalla announced that Francesco Zet will be the second horse entering the big event in late May.

Six-year-old Francesco Zet (Father Patrick) is undefeated since August 2021 and has 17-consecutive wins before this season. Daniel Redén’s trotter tried the older elite on one occasion as a 5-year-old and he then won $200,000 Norrbottens Stora Pris in Boden.

The best trotter from France and one of the most interesting horses from Sweden makes the temperature of Elitloppet hot, to say the least.

SOCCER BOY MILLER

In 2010, the U.S. was supposed to get the win in Elitloppet. That was at least what many guessed when it was clear that Lucky Jim, the best older trotter in America at that time, would cross the Atlantic Ocean, participating in Solvalla’s biggest event of the year.

This was very suitable, especially for me. The year before, I had the opportunity to write a pretty nice feature on Lucky Jim’s driver Andy Miller, for Travronden magazine’s annual review and I felt some kind of connection to him, the trainer Julie Miller and the horse, even if I never had seen the horse in person.

Anyway, as it turned out, by a coincidence I met the Millers at a hotel in Stockholm early in the week of Elitloppet. Andy and Julie had arrived at a great time to Stockholm and I had a meeting with colleagues at the hotel, making plans for an upcoming soccer tournament in conjunction with the weekend at Solvalla. So, when I noticed that the Millers were at the same place as me that evening, I stepped forward, presented myself as the reporter who had called during last fall and asked, a little jokingly, if Andy would think about getting to the soccer arena on the Thursday before all the seriousness would begin at Solvalla on the Friday. There were 12 teams, mixed with harness racing professionals, soccer stars, former professional players and it all was a Thursday show where everyone waited for the real party to begin at Solvalla.

Andy and Julie showed up, unexpectedly from my part, but it made me glad and Andy even agreed on participating on the soccer team that we called “The International Team.” This is a side story to Lucky Jim and Elitloppet, obviously. His Elitloppet story didn’t end very well. Lucky Jim was not at his best level, but the memory of 2010’s version of Elitloppet is not about races. For me, it was all about the solidarity at the soccer field where a slightly misplaced American harness racing driver tried to figure out what the sport of soccer really was about. That was a good day and Andy got the highest grades for effort. I hope he remembers this with joy. I do.