For the past 20 years, I’ve been working with European tracks to get horses from North America to cross the ocean to take on the best of the continent.
I can tell you it’s getting harder and harder to get horses (actually, trainers and owners) willing to make the trip. One of the primary reasons is that there is more money now for aged trotters in North America. To make the trip to Europe, often a trotter has to skip some big-money events on these shores.
That’s the good news. It’s nice that horses have ample earning opportunities over here.
The bad news is many trainers and owners thus lose the trip of a lifetime---all expenses paid. Just ask anyone who’s ever taken a trotter to Europe---they treat you royally. Oh, the horse won’t be treated royally; he’ll have to work hard because the competition is tough, but his human connections will be wined and dined and squired around.
And when your horse comes onto the track and they play your country’s anthem, it tugs on your heartstrings. You’re a long way from home and representing your country and it’s unlike any other race you’ve ever experienced.
Fans in Europe really appreciate the chance to see top trotters from North America. I was at Solvalla in 1992 when Billyjojimbob won the Elitlopp and Lori and Mike Wade stood with their horse, watched the Maple Leaf being raised, and listened to Oh, Canada being played.
Even I got choked up---and I’m an American!
A few years later, a Swedish journalist told me that Billyjojimbob’s victory was one of his favorite Elitlopps, even though the winner wasn’t from Sweden. I asked him why.
“The owners were jeans people,” he said, referring to Lori and Mike standing in the winner’s circle wearing jeans. “This was a people’s horse.”
He also saw the Wades are a complete opposite of the bombastic Lou Guida who came to Sweden in 1988 and won with Mack Lobell. He saw Guida as simply a money-man with no personal connection to the horse. He knew that the Wades were wearing jeans because they spent Elitlopp Day working with their horse.
So it’s too bad that owners of top trotters miss this wonderful experience, but it’s nice that there is so much money here that they don’t feel compelled to go.
There are, of course, other reasons besides money that keep North American horses home. Trotting hobbles are forbidden in Europe, so horses wearing them cannot race.
Also, Lasix is not permitted anywhere outside of North America, so Lasix horses either have to go off the medication or stay home. Steroid use, which has been routine among racehorses in North America until recently, has been banned for many years in Europe.
Also, in Norway, drivers are not permitted to carry whips, but that has never been a stumbling block for any horse that I’m aware of. Most will race just fine without the whip.
International competition is always exciting, whether it’s a trotting race or the Olympics. I just wish that we could see more of it in harness racing.