by Thomas Hedlund

San Moteur was the big favorite in Romme’s $30,000 qualification race ahead of the Paralympiatravet Sunday (Apr. 20), but Björn Goop’s star trotter got his chances spoiled when the field headed into the last turn. At that point San Moteur was far back in the field with several lengths to make up on the leader Phoenix Photo.

At the same time, behind San Moteur, Kentucky River sat with even more meters to make up, but in the end, the Father Patrick son had, via a furious finish, disarmed all of the horses in front of him. An impressive performance that led to a spot in next week’s final at Åby.

Åby’s sport’s general Jon Walter Pedersen is given the opportunity to invite horses to the $300,000 Paralympiatravet, and Pedersen has found some really interesting shots that will make this year’s edition of the big 1.3-mile race very strong.

Kentucky River, A Fair Day, Castor The Star and Saturday’s (April 26) winner Ture L.A. (Maharajah) have all qualified by winning qualification races. Speaking of Ture L.A., trainer Maria Törnqvist announced immediately after the race that her 8-year-old gelding will face the very elite next Saturday. Ture L.A. has belonged in all divisions included in the Swedish V75 and Saturday’s race in Örebro, over the mile, was his first in gold division and he showed that even an 8-year-old gelding can develop and become an elite trotter in Sweden.

Title defender Önas Prince got his mandatory ticket early this spring and Pedersen has also collected French trotters Inmarosa and Gaspar d’Angis, Swedish horses Working Class Hero, Borups Victory and San Moteur. The two last mentioned are, as we all know, some of the best horses in Europe and the complete field for the Paralympiatravet is just superb.

The same day, Saturday (May 3), Åby plays host to finals in the $200,000 King’s and Queen’s Pokal for 4-year-olds and some other great events and this particular race day counts as the big kickoff of the European “Grand Circuit” season.

Sunday (May 4) offers high class events in two different parts of the continent. The $200,000 Finlandia-ajo is scheduled in Helsinki while the $715,000 Gran Premio della Lotteria is held in Naples, Italy.

HORSES SET FOR PARALYMPIATRAVET

Borups Victory

Önas Prince

Castor The Star

Working Class Hero

A Fair Day

San Moteur

Borups Victory

Inmarosa

Gaspar d’Angis

Ture L.A.

Kentucky River

NEW INVITATION TO ELITLOPPET

Horse number eight invited to Elitloppet 2025 was announced on Saturday (April 26) and the pink ticket went to a horse not very known for the big public. Timo Nurmos trained Mellby Knekt (Mellby Viking) is a 6-year-old gelding with 12 wins in 18 starts and has never been close to competing among the trotters he will face at Solvalla in late May. Mellby Knekt was invited on the occasion of his last performance at Solvalla, when he won in 1:52 after a first over trip. An exciting contribution to the race.

HORSES READY FOR ELITLOPPET 2025

A Fair Day — Sweden

Etonnant — France

Francesco Zet — Sweden

The Locomotive — Australia

Borups Victory — Sweden

Logan Park — Canada

Go On Boy — France

Mellby Knekt — Sweden