by Melissa Keith

On Sunday (May 25) at Stockholm’s Solvalla Racetrack, there was only one North American-based trotter in the eliminations for Elitloppet 2025. It was Logan Park, the reigning O’Brien Older Trotting Horse of the Year and undefeated king of the Woodbine Mohawk Park preferred trot this season. His 1:50.4 victory over Gaines Hanover on May 5 at Mohawk is currently the fastest winning mile by a trotter this year in Canada.Logan Park (6, 1:49.2m; $1,566,469) went to Europe after his connections accepted a coveted 2025 Elitloppet invitation. Trainer Robert Kyle Fellows and members of the horse’s ownership group joined the gelding on his European adventure. Logan Park is owned by Arpad Szabo of Bradford, ON, the Outofthepark Stable of Rockwood, ON, and breeder Reg Higgs of Blenheim, ON.The fastest-ever Canadian-sired trotter went behind the starting gate in the first of the two Elitloppet eliminations, in line to his regular driver, Doug McNair. When Logan Park ventured to Stockholm for one of the world’s top trotting races, his regular Woodbine Mohawk Park pilot joined him at Solvalla.

Friday (May 30), McNair told HRU about the Elitloppet experience.While he arrived at the Swedish track that Sunday to drive, Logan Park had been living at Bernie Noren’s Swedish farm “for a couple weeks,” after some serious travel for the horse to get there from Canada.

“It took about a total time, in a truck, trailers, planes, and stuff, of around 40, 45 hours for him to get there,” McNair said of Logan Park’s arduous arrangements. “It was long ship for him, but as far as me, like, I went over on Thursday [May 22] and came back Monday morning [May 26]. So, it was a great trip. A good experience.”

The Mohawk reinsman said the huge crowd at Solvalla impressed him.“The amount of people that they get, you know what I mean?” he said. “Over here, we’ve got huge crowds out east from the Gold Cup and Saucer or even a night like this [The Raceway at Western Fair’s Camluck Classic], but it’s nothing compared to the amount of people you get there. I mean, they shut down the city for sure. I’m not sure if it’s the whole country or not, but it’s kind of shut down for the weekend for that race, so it’s a pretty huge deal to be a part of it. I think racing’s actually ahead of hockey over there.”

McNair has driven in Europe before, but the 2025 Elitloppet was his first.

“I raced at the World Driving Championship in 2019,” he said.Logan Park was not himself in his Elitloppet elimination, finishing eighth and failing to advance to the final. He was undefeated in three 2025 starts at the WMP preferred level and the last two were without Lasix, in preparation for his Swedish debut. The medication is not permitted in racehorses there.

McNair said he was unsure why Logan Park, the only North American horse invited this year, failed to show his best form in the elimination.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” McNair said. “It’s just probably factoring in a few things. You know, it was a tough ship for him. I even talked to Dagfin [Henriksen, who took Perfetto to Elitloppet]. He wasn’t in the truck nearly as long as [Logan Park] was.”

Transportation was not the only element that may have worked against Logan Park.“His trip didn’t work out perfect,” McNair said. “He obviously didn’t like the track. It’s got a real bank on it. It’s different than Mohawk and the North American tracks… It’s quite a bit deeper.”He wanted to clarify that the rare disappointing result took nothing away from Logan Park.“He’s still a great horse, and I’d love to see him face off against those European horses in North America, because I think he can go with any of those horses, in North America,” McNair said.

He added that he didn’t think the trip hurt his chances in the elimination.“The way it was in the stretch, I don’t think it would have mattered if I was on the front end or not,” he said. “You know, we lost quite a bit of ground in the stretch… We followed the horse who actually won the final [Go On Boy].”McNair said the European style of racing, training, and driving remains quite different from North America.

“Our horses can’t race two-by-two, but their horses are used to it,” McNair said. “Ours aren’t, so I wasn’t taking a shot to get parked. I didn’t want to go that type of trip. I just figured I’d race mine as soon as the gate pulled, and I made my choice to race him from the middle, and hopefully get to the final and maybe have a shot in the final. I was sitting seventh on the outside in the first turn, so that wasn’t a great spot either.”

McNair said Logan Park had stayed in Sweden after the race.

“I think he was 13 or 14 hours from Frankfurt, Germany, at Bernie’s farm,” he said.

The gelding had flown to and from North America via New York’s JFK Airport, a flight of 8 or 9 hours.Being based at Mohawk with Logan Park stabled nearby is preferable to regularly traveling long distances to race. The gelding was expected to arrive back at the Fellows’ training center on Friday (May 30), according to his regular driver.

“On Monday night, we’ve got a horse that’s 1-9 or 3-5, and I’m going for $38,000,” said McNair, referring to Logan Park’s typical odds in the top class at Mohawk. He added that he was unsure of when or where Logan Park will race next, and would know better how the trotter came out of the race and trip when he sat behind him again.The 2025 Elitloppet experience was one McNair said he enjoyed immensely, and he would love another chance to drive in the race.“The hotels were great,” he said. “The food was great. The people were great. The weather ended up turning out really good. That was a great time, and I think people appreciated the show.”