While the best three-year-old trotters in North America battle it out today in the Kentucky Futurity, the best sophomores in Sweden await tomorrow's Travkriterium (Trotting Criterium) and wonder if anyone can beat Maharajah.
The son of Viking Kronos (American Winner) will certainly go off as a heavy favourite. And why not? He's made 10 starts in his first year of racing and won eight of them. And won them impressively. Oh, by the way, he hasn't lost a race since late May.
He's trained by Stefan Hultman, a big bear of a man who always seems to have a smile on his face. He's developed many top trotters, including From Above, winner of the Travkriterium as a three-year-old, Travderby as a four-year-old, and the Elitlopp as a five-year-old. It simply doesn't get any better than that in Swedish trotting.
Maharajah is steered by ace reinsman Orjan Kihlstrom, who has teamed many of Hultman's best horses, including From Above, to victory.
Maharajah is out of a mare by Giant Chill (Speedy Crown – Chili Bowl) while his second dam is Stevie Nicks. (No, not that Stevie Nicks!) The second dam of Maharajah is a mare by the French stallion Tibur, who enjoyed so much success while standing in Sweden.
A dozen three-year-olds will contest the Travkriterium with the winner taking home 1.6 million Swedish crowns or about $244,580. The event is 2,640 metres in length.
The favourite will start from Post 9 and perhaps his stiffest opposition will come from stablemate Merriment. He's a son of Pine Chip from the Zoot Suit mare Giggling. His second dam is Ourasine by the French wonder horse Ourasi, a hero two decades ago. Ourasine is the dam of the recent Swedish star Jocose, a winner of $727,068.
Merriment has won half of his eight starts this year and will start from Post 4.
Just inside him is another threat to Maharajah and his name is Reven d'Amour. He's also started eight times and has six wins and two seconds in his outings.
Reven d'Amour is a son of Revenue (or Revenue S, as he's known in North America), who bred a book of mares in 2004 before taking up stallion duties in New Jersey in 2005.
Reven d'Amour is out of a mare by Super Arnie (Super Bowl – Arnies Likeness) while his second dam is – like the second dam of Maharahah – a daughter of Tibur. So with the French blood on the male side of Revenue's pedigree and this extra dose of French blood on the bottom side of this pedigree, Reven d'Amour has about 37 per cent French blood. His third dam, however, is by Hoot Speed, a son of Speedy Scot, who raced against Speedy Crown in 1971.
If form holds, however, in the Swedish Travkriterium, they will all bow to Maharajah, the new ruling prince of Swedish trotting.
Dean Hoffman, one of North America's most prolific harness racing journalists and member of the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame, offers SC website readers his weekly look at international standardbred racing through his eyes.