Borups Victory showed no mercy winning the Paralympiatravet
by Thomas Hedlund
The runner up in the 2024 Elitloppet — and one of the favorites this year — Borups Victory (Googoo Gaagaa) showed no mercy on the lead when the $300,000 Paralympiatravet was held at Åby racetrack in Sweden on Saturday (May 4) afternoon. Heavy rain made the track sloppy midway into the card, but when the Paralympiatravet final was underway, the sun hade made its comeback and the track dried surprisingly well.
The initial part of the race was full of go as Önas Prince sprinted to the lead with A Fair Day pressuring on the outside. Önas Prince’s driver Per Nordström was not interested in letting A Fair Day take over the lead, but 200 meters later he opted to let Borups Victory pass him by. A pocket trip at Åby means that you will get the chance on the inside open-stretch lane, so the tactics on Nordström’s part made sense.
Borups Victory got company on the outside from San Moteur with a kilometer to go, but the exciting duel never appeared. Borups Victory was too strong and via a :26.6 last quarter, the opponents on the outside had a really hard time trying to challenge. Önas Prince, in the pocket, did what he could, but finished fourth and was never actually a threat for the win.
Mats Sundin, former NHL pro in Toronto, co-owns Borups Victory, who has started his 2025 season with two big stakes wins. He claimed the Seinäjoki Race in Finland two weeks ago and his next objective is Elitloppet at Solvalla in three weeks.
Borups Victory had a mile rate of 1:52.4 over 1.3 miles. Replay here.
San Moteur was a brave runner up and French contribution Inmarosa finished strongly in third.
FREE TIME JEPSON OUTSTANDING AT ÅBY
Alessandro Gocciadoro exhaled after the $200,000 King’s Trophy at Åby on Saturday (May 3) afternoon. “Okay,” Gocciadoro said. “I had to win, the best horse, for sure, but I had to win. It’s not so easy… For me, this is a champion.”
And he couldn’t be more right. Free Time Jepson (Face Time Bourbon) was the heavy favorite at Åby this day, but races must be raced before a king is crowned and now, we know that the European king among 4-year-olds is bred in Italy and trained by Italy’s dominant Gocciadoro.
Rain made the track sloppy, and contenders wanted to see what kind of horse Free Time Jepson really is and there were a few more obstacles in the way before Åby’s public would celebrate the king of the 4-year-olds. But Gocciadoro solved the initial 100 meters by playing it safe while Lando Mearas sprinted to the lead for Daniel Wäjersten. Out of the first turn, Gocciadoro attacked three wide, aiming for the front position and some hundred meters later Free Time Jepson overtook the lead. Free Time Jepson probably didn’t choose the pace himself, but the chronometer showed pace that is usually for older elite trotters with a kilometer to go, and a normal 4-year-old horse racing on a little bit of a sloppy track would be marked by the speed, but Free Time Jepson is not a normal trotter. He is a king, at least for now, and he left his opponents in the stretch and won in a mile rate of 1:54.2.
Replay here.
A champion he is, and the same can in the future be said about the runner up, American bred Luke The Spook, who entered the home stretch as the last horse. Adrian Kolgjini’s horse showed great speed as he flew far on the outside and claimed the silver ahead of Izod Zet.
ANDRÉ EKLUNDH TAKES QUEEN’S TROPHY WITH PANTHERE D’INVERNE
Trainer/driver André Eklundh belongs at Åby racetrack. That’s his home playground and he’s been the kind of trainer that produces great trotters, but also a trainer that lacked wins in some of the big stakes races in Sweden. Until Saturday (May ٣), when he showed a very strong winner in the $200,000 Queen’s Trophy for 4-year-old mares.
Panthere d’Inverne (Brillantissime) finished third in her elimination race, which meant that Eklundh had no other choice than be saddled with post 8 behind the gate, against opponents that impressed a lot in their eliminations, respectively. And Panthere d’Inverne had to face a very tough trip from her problematic post position. Three wide throughout the first turn and eventually an attack for position first over, outside of leading favorite Vivillion, was Panthere d’Inverne’s race destiny in the biggest objective so far in her career.
Vivillion looked like the probable winner when the field turned into the last turn, but 200 meters later, at the end of the same turn, Panthere d’Inverne had put some serious pressure on the favorite. Eklundh won one of the biggest races his home track offers, with a horse that he has shaped from the beginning and it’s easy to understand why tears fell from his eyes in the winner’s circle.
Replayhere.
Panthere d’Inverne won in a mile rate of 1:56 over 1.3 miles and favorite Vivillion held on for second place ahead of Elegance Silvio.
KOCTEL DU DAIN BEST IN PARIS
Philippe Allaire trained Koctel du Dain (Boccador de Simm) impressed when Vincennes raced Saturday (May 2). The 5-year-old colt has battled in the top of the French K-crop pretty much all his career and there is no doubt that he can continue his path towards the very big races for the older elite, especially after Saturday’s $120,000 Prix Albert Demarcq over 2,850 meters.
David Thomain drove Allaire’s trotter and he hit the lead with a mile to go, with the race’s first choice, Kanto Avis, on his outside.
Kanto Avis couldn’t challenge Koctel du Dain and chasers from behind never got seriously close as the leader hit the wire in a stakes record mile rate of 1:55.2 over 1.7 miles.
FRANCESCO ZET OUTSTANDING IN ELITLOPPET PREPARATION
Daniel Redén’s Francesco Zet (Father Patrick) is, by many fans, favored to win Elitloppet and Redén has opted for two races before the big battle later this month. Francesco Zet started his season with an easy win at Solvalla on April 23 and his second race, and probably last before Elitloppet, came in Rättvik, in a $10,000 race over 1,640 meters and the 7-year-old champion jogged, more or less without opponents chasing him, to a superior win in 1:51.3.
