The gelding, bred by Steve Stewart and Oakwood Farms was a winner for trainer Daniel Redén and driver Örjan Kihlström. Meanwhile, France continued its dominance of the Harper Hanovers.

by Thomas Hedlund

The mood at Solvalla was electric when Saturday’s (May 24) card offered really great performances throughout the whole day.

Today (May 25), the Elitloppet will be contested. A program for today’s races is here. The post parade for the first Elitloppet heat will be at 9:19 a.m. ET.

Saturday’s card started with the three elimination heats for the $120,000 Sweden Cup and Daniel Redén could hardly dream of a better beginning of his Elitloppet weekend.

Mister Hercules (Trixton) impressed after a first over trip in heat 1 as he bested leader Click Bait and held quick finisher Guerrier Castelets behind by a head. Heat 1 replay here.

Örjan Kihlström sat in the bike and Redén/Kihlström continued winning in heat ٢, where Double Deceiver (Cantab Hall) showed that he most likely enjoys racing with cover best. A second over trip and a three-wide attack throughout the last turn ended with a very comfortable win for the American-bred gelding. Heat 2 replay here.

Johan Untersteiner’s Dancer Brodde (Bold Eagle) finished quickly from fourth over in the last elimination and claimed the victory in nice style. Heat 3 replay here. 

Nine horses qualified for the final, three from Redén’s stable (Gamin Jaba finished third in heat 3) and it looked good for Redén when the Sweden Cup was scheduled as race 7 on the card.

Double Deceiver drew post 1 behind the gate in the final and Kihlström acted as he was supposed to, aiming for the lead, keeping the opponents on his outside and Double Deceiver was answering to Kihlström’s commands. Double Deceiver kept the lead and was allowed to keep the pace at a moderate level, which meant that the 6-year-old gelding, bred by Steve Stewart and Oakwood Farms, had everything under complete control all the way to the wire. Double Deceiver flew in the stretch, leaving challengers several lengths behind to win in 1:51.3.

Final replay here.

First over trotter Ideal San Leandro and pocket runner Dancer Brodde finished in a dead heat for the silver medal.

Kihlström has won the biggest races in the world, some of them several times, but he was still very happy after Double Deceiver’s two wins at Solvalla.

“This is big, it’s always pleasant winning races this weekend and it was very nice to feel Double Deceiver like this today,” Kihlström said after the win. “He raced one week ago and we hoped for a better performance, a ticket to Elitloppet, but this turned out well. He has never felt better before in his European starts.”

INMAROSA WINS HARPER HANOVERS

The race day concluded with the $200,000 Harper Hanovers race over 3,140 meters.

French trotters have dominated this event many times and the 2025 edition ended with another big win for a strong horse born in the country of tricolor.

Inmarosa (Amiral Sacha) has battled against the very best trotters in Europe, in the Prix d’Amérique this year among other big events, but the really important, prestigious win was missing, until Saturday’s race at Solvalla.

Driver Leo Abrivard solved his debut in Swedish start method without a problem and Inmarosa found a great position early into the race.

Napoleon Cash got fired up on the lead, but being eager in front over 3,140 meters is rarely a good thing if you want to win. This fact made the journey more pleasant for the well-merited trotters who started with a 40 meter disadvantage and Inmarosa was the horse that liked it best. She left her position in third over with 1,150 meters to go, attacked three wide, flew to the lead on the backstretch and kept her pace all the way towards the finish line. Chaser Kentucky River couldn’t follow but held to second place ahead of Immortal Doc.

Replay here.

Winner Inmarosa did not just win the Harper Hanovers race, she claimed her first Group 1 victory and did it in a world-record mile rate of 1:55 over 3,180 meters!

France was on top in the biggest race at Solvalla on Saturday. Will it be the same today, in Elitloppet?

OLLY HÅLERYD TAKES JOVIALITY

The $100,000 Joviality race for mares over 1,640 meters became a speed story as leader Channel Trio got way too fired up in front, which meant that favorite Olly Håleryd (Trixton) could sprint to a safe win far outside of the track. Olly Håleryd and Kihlström sat far back in the field when they headed into the last turn, but in the stretch Olly Håleryd was unstoppable and she claimed the win in a mile rate of 1:52.1. Redén trains the 7-year-old winner. Replay here.

SMALL FACTS ABOUT ELITLOPPET FIELD

The 16 horses competing in today’s Elitloppet, Solvalla’s biggest event of the year, are all surrounded by fans from basically all over the harness racing world. Here are some necessary and fun facts about the participants:

Youngest contender: Charron, 5 years old

Oldest contender: Etonnant, 11 years old

Richest horse: Etonnant, $3,112,348

Most experienced horse: Etonnant, 100 starts

Least experienced horse: Mellby Knekt, 18 starts

Fastest horse: Logan Park, 1:49.2

Highest win-percentage: Francesco Zet, 27 wins in 33 starts, 82 per cent

Favorite to win as of Saturday (May 24): Borups Victory

Drivers making their Elitloppet debut: Magnus Teien Gundersen, Doug McNair, Nicolas Bazire, Paul-Philippe Ploquin, Benoit Robin, Brad Hewitt, Hannu Torvinen

Genders: 12 colts, 4 geldings

And the absolutely least important fact about Elitloppet 2025: Who wears the best-looking racing colors?

This is a highly subjective assessment, but still, not a completely dismissive one. Here are my choices for the top three colors among the 16 contenders.

3. Romain Deriux — Go On Boy

White and blue stars. Simple and clean.

2. Brad Hewitt — The Locomotive

It’s an uncertain choice, because I have no idea how Hewitt will be dressed at Solvalla, but if he wears the blue jacket with a yellow lion (?), tiger (?), cat (?), he deserves a silver medal for flirting with the Swedish spectators by wearing blue and yellow, like the flag of Sweden.

1. Doug McNair — Logan Park

It’s a typical North American-styled suit and the colors are nicely blended together — not too dark, not too bright. I would say that the best ever winning colors in the history of Elitloppet is John D. Campbell’s white, maroon with some light-blue elements from 1988 (Mack Lobell).

ELITLOPPET MORNING LINE ODDS

Horse — Odds

Borups Victory — 4.20

Francesco Zet — 5.10

Go On Boy — 6.10

Mellby Knekt — 12.20

Logan Park — 14.80

Hohneck — 16.40

Don Fanucci Zet — 17.10

Hooker Berry — 18.70

Hussard du Landret — 22.40

Etonnant — 24.40

Mellby Jinx — 24.50

Always Ek — 26.20

A Fair Day — 28.80

The Locomotive — 34.60

Charron — 68.40

Massimo Hoist — 70.10