by Thomas Hedlund

Swedish Hall of Famer Stefan Hultman died Saturday (April 12). Hultman’s career ended in 2016, after developing the muscular disease myasthenia gravis one year earlier.

Hultman dominated the business in Sweden — and Europe — from the early 2000s forward with countless victories in the biggest, and most prestigious races in Europe.

Hultman’s biggest win as a trainer came in 2014, when Maharajah won the Prix d’Amérique in Paris. Maharajah is probably the horse that most people associate Hultman with.

From Above, Orecchietti, Panne de Moteur, Lie Detector, Naglo and Triton Sund are all horses that took Hultman and his driver Örjan Kihlström to the finest winner’s podiums and after his professional career as a trainer at Solvalla, he became one of the most popular experts in harness racing live TV.

Hultman will always be remembered as the skillful trainer that always showed his emotions at the tracks, and racing fans will miss him deeply.

STRONG PERFORMANCES FROM K-TROTTERS

French bred 5-year-olds battled at Vincennes on Saturday (April 12) afternoon and the mares were first out in the $120,000 Prix Henri Levesque over 2,700 meters. The race favorite, the winter dominant in the crop, Kokote, went off-stride early into the event and that opened things up for another mare with great merits, Kana de Beylev (Express Jet).

Replay here.

Benjamin Rochard sat behind the William Bigeon trained mare and the three-wide attack from second over started in the uphill part of the track. In the middle of the last turn Kana de Beylev had the advantage and she looked strong all the way to the wire in a mile rate of 1:57.2 over 1.6 miles.

Rochard was on fire in Paris this day. When the 5-year-old colts met in the $120,000 Prix Robert Auvray, Rochard’s drive was Kanto Avis (Ready Cash). Kanto Avis has been below the radar as a great horse in the shadow of the very best in the K-crop and in Saturday’s race Kanto Avis showed that he belongs in the top himself. Rochard opted for a first over trip behind Marc Sassier’s trotter and as the field turned for home, Rochard had plenty of power to use in his horse. Kanto Avis cruised to a safe win in a mile rate of 1:55.2 over 1.6 miles.

Replay here.

A FAIR DAY SET FOR PARALYMPIATRAVET

The second elimination race ahead of the Paralympiatravet was held at Jägersro racetrack in Malmö, Sweden on Saturday (April 12) afternoon. Only seven trotters gathered behind the gate, but there were some really strong contenders among them. Top trotters Önas Prince, Barack Face and A Fair Day chased the ticket to Åby in May — Önas Prince is the title defender and has a wild card to the final — and it ended with an impressive win by A Fair Day (Maharajah).

A Fair Day, contender in Elitloppet 2024, was the event’s first choice and driver Oscar Ginman could push his horse to the lead when the field reached the backstretch for the first time. On the front, A Fair Day is hard to beat and when Barack Face went off-stride and Önas Prince had to run outside of A Fair Day, the result was pretty obvious to predict. A mile rate of 1:53.1 over 1.3 miles is just splendid and the amateur trained trotter from the south of Sweden will certainly be a factor even in the final of the $300,000 Paralympiatravet at Åby on May 3.