by Thomas Hedlund
The $ 172,000 STL Open final was on Solvalla’s Sunday card (September 26) and several of the most successful stacks in the gold division in the V75 during the year gathered over 1.3 miles.
Very Kronos, Milligan’s School, Milliondollarrhyme and Cyber Lane were just some of the meritorious trotters who tried to take the STL Open trophy and the story was quite entertaining with Cyber Lane in the lead and Very Kronos in position first over.
ALN | Esprit Sisu won the STL Open at Solvalla on Sunday.
The speed was set high and in the second lap Daniel Wäjersten had placed his Esprit Sisu (Ready cash). The 7-year-old gelding has developed a lot during the season and when Very Kronos gained an advantage over the leader Cyber Lane in the last turn, Daniel Wäjersten had a lot of power left in his horse. Esprit Sisu fought well over the distance and won at a strong mile speed of 1: 53.4 over 1.3 miles. Milliondollarrhyme ended enormously far outside and beat the thread as second, close before a brave Very Kronos.
On the same competition card, two eliminations for 465,000 dollars were held in the European Derby for 4-year-olds and Swedish derby winners, still undefeated Calgary Games (Readly Express) dominated the first race for driver Jorma Kontio. The Calgary Games claimed its eighth consecutive win at a mile speed of 1:56 over 1.3 miles and it was also announced that the horse has a new co-owner. Margareta Wallenius-Kleberg, Menhammar Stuteri, has bought a share in Timo Nurmo’s trotter and it is obvious that the Calgary Games will serve as a stud next to her racing career next year.
In the second elimination, Björn Goops San Moteur impressed from the lead at a mile speed of 1: 56.1.
Later that day, an elimination was held at Vincennes in Paris and that race contained only seven horses. Eric Raffin drove Jean-Michel Baudouin trained Hirondelle Sibey (Gazoullis) and first chose position when Wild West Diamant was fired in the lead. In the last turn, Raffin had control of the race and Hirondelle Sibey cruised to a safe win in a mile frequency of 1:54 over 1.3 miles.
The final of the European Derby is scheduled for the Åby competition track in Sweden on October 9.
Bellei riots in Bologna
The $ 180,000 Gran Premio Continentale for 4-year-old trotters was held in Bologna, Italy on Sunday afternoon (September 26) and heavyweight favorite Bepi Bi set off in pursuit of the lead at an early stage of the race.
French trotter Hooker Berry took the lead and Enrico Bellei put his foal Birba Caf (Orlando Vici) outside the leader in the 1.3 mile race. Bologna offers a half-mile track and Bellei’s choice of tactics proved to be the right one as Birba Caf easily disarmed leader Hooker Berry in the last turn and then kept the rest of the gang behind him in a mile frequency of 2: 00.3.
The 60-1 winner got his tenth win in 30 starts.