by Thomas Hedlund

Courant Stable owned and Sabine Kagebrant trained 5-year-old Chapter Seven daughter Joviality became the third trotter invited to the 2024 Elitloppet.

Joviality dominated the stakes races in Sweden during her first season outside of America and was named Horse of the Year in Sweden in 2023. After a winter in Paris, where Joviality ended up in third place in the Prix d’Amérique, she will now target the mile race in Elitloppet at Solvalla on May 26.

BREEDERS CROWN WINNER IMPRESSED IN 2024 DEBUT

The new favorite trotter in Sweden is all of a sudden an amateur-trained 5-year-old who ended the prior season with a comfortable win in the Breeders Crown.

A Fair Day (Maharajah), trained by Elisabeth Almheden and driven by Oscar Ginman, became a very popular horse at the end of 2023, not least of all because of the victory in the 4-year-old colt and gelding Breeders Crown in November. A Fair Day, and the entourage surrounding him, showed that it’s still possible for basically anyone to shape and train a successful horse. It is an important milestone in the harness racing business, regardless of where it happens.

The expectations before A Fair Day’s debut for 2024 were pretty high, but most of all the fans wanted to see proof that the Breeders Crown win wasn’t just a lucky shot at the right time.

When Färjestad played host to Friday’s (March 29) traditional Easter races, A Fair Day shared the favorite role with Alessandro Gocciadoro’s Diamond Truppo in the $60,000 Pris Carl Philips Jubileumspokal over 1,640 meters.

No one could have been disappointed with the outcome of the race. A Fair Day showed extreme quickness as the car accelerated from the field, and from post 5, he flew to the front in a very fast opening. When Diamond Truppo eventually connected on the outside, Ginman continued in high speed and in the last turn it was clear that A Fair Day was superior to his opponents this day.

A Fair Day won in a mile rate of 1:51.3, ahead of Theresnolimit and Diamond Truppo.

BO WESTERGAARD QUITS

Danish top trainer Bo Westergaard has ended his career as a professional trainer. This was announced in a press release on Thursday (March 28).

The story behind this is that Westergaard was suspended from the sport after a positive doping test in 2015, when Westergaard was an active trainer in Norway.

He came back to the business in 2018, but in April of last year, one of Westergaard’s horses showed high levels of butorphanol and Westergaard was about to face another suspension from the sport.

In a press release (translated via Google translate), Westergaard said:

“I have realized that my judgment during my time as a trainer in Norway was very doubtful and that it would have been better if I had never had a second chance in Denmark. But since we got a second chance six years ago, we have done everything we can to never end up in violation of the rules.

But we stand powerless when we are repeatedly met by conditions on the tracks that do not meet a standard that lives up to the guidelines and the standard in the rest of the Nordic countries.

“We can only be satisfied that over 500 doping tests were performed on my horses before the inevitable happened.

“Imagine if my competitors had the same number of samples taken!!!

“Because of my past, I will never be recognized as anything other than a doping sinner here in Scandinavia. But I have nothing else to apologize for than my past in Norway.

“The past year has been a hell for me and my family and therefore I have made the following decision:

I will quit as a trainer in Aalborg when I have completed the remaining work that I have started with my faithful horse owners.

“The reduction of my [training] business is already underway, and my family and I will retire and leave the trotting sport in silence. The intention is for Nicklas Korfitsen to take over after us.

“I have chosen to fight to prove my innocence and hope
for [an] acquittal, and as a matter of principle for the security of all trotting [trainers] in Denmark, I will bring the decision to court.

“On April 30, 2023, the conditions on the Skive racetrack, in our opinion, were critical and there were clear violations of the routines to ensure that a doping test was not contaminated. We still believe that these conditions were the cause of the positive test.

“It became known to us during the complaint process that two veterinarians practice… daily work in the treatment room, a room… used as part of the doping booth on April 30, 2023. This was the only race day in 2023 that the room was included as part of the doping booth.

“We find it remarkable that the substances found in the horse’s doping test are precisely the substances that are used daily by at least one of the veterinarians who conducts a clinic in the treatment room. This is also the only room that has access to sinks, etcetera. A room that is not cleaned by Skive racetrack and which was not checked in connection with an inspection conducted at Skive racetrack on April 30, 2023.

“However, the inspection report states that the door to the treatment room must be locked.

It is also remarkable that one of the veterinarians was also one of the track veterinarians on April 30, 2023.

“I would also like to emphasize that none of our horses have ever been treated with the same preparation/cocktail, and I know with 100 per cent certainty that I and my employees/veterinarian have not administered the substance to the horse.

“The burden of proof is on me and according to the high court I have not proven that the test was contaminated. I will now work to prove my innocence regardless of the fact that my future in trotting sports is over as a trainer.

“During the final period, the stable will spend time exclusively with the stable’s customers and work with the horses. I therefore hope that all the media and others respect our decision, which has not been easy.

In the future, my family and I will participate in the work on the farm and with this work we will prepare Nicklas to take over after me and my wife.

“It is no secret that I have been personally affected mentally and have not been able to fulfill my duties.

But I am ready to fight for my horse owners, my staff and my loved ones to the bitter end.”