The Rob Fellows trainee looks to follow in the hoofprints of Billyjojimbob and bring glory to Ontario.

by Matthew Lomon

“To go over there and compete in a race of that caliber — hopefully, we represent and do well — that’s a wildest dream,” said trainer Rob Fellows of Logan Park’s Elitloppet invite. “It’s something you wake up in the morning and you don’t even tell people you dreamt it.”

Even when the wildest of dreams become reality, somehow, they still don’t feel real.

The month of March, although young, has been a whirlwind for Fellows after his prized trotter Logan Park received an invitation to compete in the 2025 Elitloppet on the last Sunday in May.

“It’s one of the elite races for trotters in the world,” Fellows said. “In North America, we have the Hambletonian, and of course, the Little Brown Jug for pacers. Here in Canada, we have the Gold Cup and Saucer for aged pacers.

“These are races that are renowned, and everybody wants to be part of. Being over in Europe, we don’t even think it’s a reality for us in Canada – it’s something we watch other people do.”

When the son of Archangel—Rite Outa The Park lines up behind the starting gate on May 25 at Solvalla Racetrack in Stockholm, Sweden, he will become the first Canadian-based competitor to contest the one-mile dash for trotters since Perfetto, who finished fifth in 2022.

Fresh off his second straight O’Brien Award as Canada’s preeminent Older Horse Trotter, Logan Park will also endeavour to retrace the steps of Billyjojimbob, who in 1992, became the first Ontario-sired horse to win Elitloppet.

Simply being in the same conversation as the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer is beyond comprehension, even for a horseman of Fellows’ stature.

“It’s an honor,” he said. “Growing up in Port Perry [ON] and seeing when [trainer] Mike Wade and [driver] Murray Brethour went over there in ’92 and won it with Billyjojimbob, that stuff doesn’t usually happen to people you know; it never happens to you. It’s one of those wow moments. It’s really a ‘Is this real? Pinch me’ type thing.”

Since its inauguration in 1952, Elitloppet has been dominated by French and Swedish nationals.

France has produced 26 winners, including the last three (Horsy Dream in 2024, Hohneck in ’23, and Etonnant in ’22), while Sweden follows closely with 25 (most recent being Don Fanucci Zet in ’21).

In other words, the talent within the European contingent is remarkable. That, Fellows knows. What fascinates him most about competing abroad, however, is finding where Logan Park fits in this once-in-a-lifetime scenario.

“If we raced against these horses here every week and we knew that we were the fifth-best horse, we wouldn’t go,” Fellows said. “The unknown is why we’re going. Are we as good as them? We don’t know. As much as you want to win every race you’re in, everybody that’s ever been there that I’ve talked to has said it’s as much about the experience, seeing the people, and the event itself.

“You hope for great weather and good racing luck, and you hope everybody in the race gets a fair race. Selfishly speaking, you want to win it, but you want to do what’s best for the business too. You want to represent well and hope that people can be proud of Logan Park because he’s a special animal.”

The 7-year-old has been nothing short of a marvel for his ownership group, which includes Fellows, his Outofthepark Stable members Mike McAllister and Blair Corbeil, long-time owner Arpad Szabo, and breeder Reg Higgs.

Across 83 lifetime starts (36-11-6), Logan Park has accumulated purse earnings north of $2 million.

Getting up to that lofty standard, Fellows noted, involves Logan Park being in mid-season form for the biggest race of his life.

The plan, he said, is to get his trusty trotter qualifying in the next few weeks, and then build toward race shape.

Alongside conditioning and form-related tasks, Fellows will also have to navigate the logistics of shipping a racehorse nearly 4,000 miles from Rockwood, ON, to Stockholm.

He left no stone unturned in his pursuit of answers.

“I have sought advice from everybody I know that’s been, has been, wanted to go, and will go because I’ve never done it,” Fellows said. “It’s not just the racing over there, it’s quite a journey to actually get there. In the last 45 years, I’ve talked to lots of people — some over there as well — to try to make the landing as soft as possible and to regroup after a few days of flying and trucking.

“Your main objective is to have them healthy. Hopefully, he’s as fit as can be going in.”

When Fellows and Logan Park touch down in Sweden, they will be joined by Fellows’ wife and Logan Park’s caretaker, Yolanda, their two daughters, grandchildren, fellow owners and family friends.

Suffice it to say, support will by no means be in short supply.

Rob said his son Kyle, who co-trains Logan Park, might have to take one for the team and stay back to watch over the 45 horses at the family’s farm.

But if the stars align, the father-and-son duo may very well be together in Stockholm.

“I’ve said this before, unfortunately, you only see one name in the program as the trainer, but it takes a village for these horses,” Rob said. “They aren’t being trained by one person. It’s the grooms, all the people that have had a hand in all the horses from the day they’re born, from the breeders to the people that break the horses — I take mine up to the Shetler’s in Wingham — everybody’s had a step along the way.

“It has taken a village of people, and there are a lot of things that have had to go the right way to get him to where he is.”

Never at any point did Rob envision his $57,000 purchase at the 2019 London Selected Yearling Sale taking him on a ride this wild.

And while the demands of the job make it difficult to relish in the moment, he will be ready when that day comes.

“I’ve talked to other people that have had good horses, and they’ve said you really don’t enjoy it while you’re racing the horse because you’re worried about every meal they did or didn’t eat, every time they have to get on a truck, the draw, getting drivers, and the logistics of racing a horse,” Rob said. “Without sounding terrible, you don’t enjoy it as much when you’re living it as I think you will when it’s all over and you look back and you go, ‘Wow, we did that.’”

Elitloppet is an invitation-only race where 16 horses first compete in two separate heats of eight. The top four finishers in each heat advance to a final where the victor receives a prize of five million kronor (approx. $713,000 Canadian at time of publication).