by Thomas Hedlund

Björn Goop-trained San Moteur, who became the first horse to get an invitation to the 2023 Elitloppet, will race on his home track Färjestad on Friday (April 7) for the first time since his world record performance in the $320,000 Jubileumspokalen at Solvalla in August 2022.

Six-year-old San Moteur will compete in a $12,000 race with seven opponents and the race is just the first step towards bigger objectives later on in the season.

In the $65,000 Prins Carl Philips Jubileumspokal for 5-year-olds, Stefan P Pettersson’s Iznogoud Am will be back after his successful 4-year-old season. Iznogoud Am finished second to Francesco Zet in the Sprintermästaren in July last year and was one of the favorites ahead of the Breeders Crown in November, where he had to be scratched. It’s not a secret that trainer Pettersson and owner Courant Stable aims for this year’s Elitloppet with the charismatic trotter.

RACKHAM IN PARALYMPIATRAVET ELIMINATION

A pretty tame edition of the first elimination for the Paralympiatravet at Åby was held at Åby racetrack on Saturday afternoon (April 1). The $42,000 elimination race attracted only eight horses for the elite and the quality of the contenders was, to be fair, pretty moderate for the season.

Perhaps the long and never-ending Swedish winter made interest in the race so low, but one of the eight contenders won to secure a spot in the final at Åby in the beginning of May.

Christoffer Eriksson-trained Rackham (Love You) took the lead in a very slow opening and the duo kept up a very moderate pace until a half-mile of the race remained. Then Eriksson pushed on the gas pedal and though Rackham lost his gait significantly in the last turn when the pace was at its peak, he held on and won in a mile rate of 1:57.3 over 1.3 miles.

GERMAN BRED 3-YEAR-OLD BEST IN PARIS

Italian, German and French bred 3-year-old trotters fought for the win on a sloppy Vincennes track when the $75,000 Prix Penthelsilea was held on Friday (March 31) afternoon. Until then undefeated Executiv Ek had to stand back when German-bred Jazzman proved to be best.

Jazzman (Niky), trained by Laurent-Claude Abrivard and driven by Alexandre Abrivard, hit the lead and controlled the field without problem all the way to the wire.

Jazzman will most probably show up at Solvalla in May, according to driver Abrivard and the 3-year-old Niky son won Friday’s race in a mile rate of 2:01.1.