by Thomas Hedlund

Italian trainer and driver Alessandro Gocciadoro has had a remarkable year in 2024. With his strong armada of horses, the Italian captured titles wherever he was participating.

The $225,000 Oslo Grand Prix is a race that he had won before, with Vitruvio in 2019 but on that occasion, Jorma Kontio drove the winner for Gocciadoro.

In Sunday’s (June 9) race at Bjerke in Oslo, Gocciadoro’s weapon was Banderas Bi (Ganymede) and the duo profited off the perfect trip, first in an inside position and eventually in second over. 

Joviality effortlessly flew to the front for Erik Adielsson and the 5-year-old Derby winner in Sweden got company from the runner up in the same race, Barack Face, on the backstretch with a mile to go. At that point, Gocciadoro switched third on the inside for second over, but the pace in the race seemed to be well suited for the two horses in front: Joviality and Barack Face. When the latter started to look tired just before the last turn, Banderas Bi had to leave three wide from his position and on his back Kentucky River followed. Joviality still looked like the winner as Adielsson had her in good hands at the top of the stretch, but as soon as the ear plugs were pulled, Joviality showed that she couldn’t defend herself anymore from the attacking Italian outside. Banderas Bi held Kentucky River behind him at the wire and Gocciadoro was delighted by his triumph in the bike.

Replay here.

The mile rate for Banderas Bi was 1:53.2 over 1.3 miles. Kentucky River finished second, Joviality third.

Gocciadoro also won the $40,000 Europamatchen for 4-year-olds in outstanding style. In a race where several horses went off-stride, Gocciadoro’s Ete Jet (Maharajah) flew to the front before the last turn and disappeared to a superior win in a mile rate of 1:56.3 over 1.3 miles.

BJÖRN GOOP REACHES 8,000 WINS

Swedish driver and trainer Björn Goop reached a great milestone in Oslo on Sunday’s (June 9) race card at Bjerke. Behind his Betting Pacer (Maharajah) Goop notched the 8,000^th driving win of his career. He has the most driving wins in Swedish history.

Goop, 48, experienced big success early in his driving career and his first wins in classic races were in 1997, when he won the Stochampionatet and Kriteriet in Sweden.

Since then, even bigger trophies have been collected for his prize cabinet. According to Goop, the biggest and most emotional win was in the 2005 Derby, when he steered his father Olle’s Conny Nobell to victory.

With Timoko, Björn claimed Elitloppet two times (2014 and 2017) and his first win in the Prix d’Amérique came in 2018, with Readly Express, before he took back-to-back wins with Face Time Bourbon in 2020-21.

The list of big wins can be long and we just establish that Björn has reached a milestone hard to get.

BODEN AND KOUVOLA GET VISITED BY TOP TROTTERS

Daniel Wäjersten’s runner up in Elitloppet, Borups Victory, will race in the $170,000 Kymi GP in Kouvola, Finland on Saturday (June 15) afternoon and after the race, trainer and driver are in a hurry to catch a plane heading towards Boden in northern Sweden, where the $195,000 Norrbottens Stora Pris waits.

Borups Victory drew a perfect number behind the gate (4) and will most certainly be the big favorite in the race. Tough opponents will be faced, especially from Go On Boy and Missle Hill.

In Boden, Elitloppet favorite Francesco Zet will try to defend his title in the Norrbottens Stora Pris. Francesco Zet finished fourth in Elitloppet and this time he will battle against Alessandro Gocciadoro’s Always Ek and Wäjersten’s Great Skills.