A pair of stars in harness racing—one human, one equine—who hail from Ontario will look to make a big impact across the Atlantic on Sunday (May 28) at Solvalla Racecourse.

Legendary driver John Campbell, who won the 1988 Elitlopp with Mack Lobell, will team up with trainer Timo Nurmos’s Tjacko Zaz in the first elimination heat of this year’s Elitlopp, and has also secured six other drives on the 15-race program.

“This is the last chance for me to [drive] at Solvalla before I finish, and I’m very happy to have been given this opportunity,” said Campbell, who will hang up his colours to take the helm of the Hambletonian Society this summer. One of Campbell’s drives will come in a special sprint event at 640 metres (approximately three-eighths of a mile), in which he will drive Marcus Lindgren trainee Wildintention As, a five-year-old Cantab Hall gelding who departed North America in November of 2015.

While Campbell will team up with Tjacko Zaz in the first Elitlopp heat, another superstar with Canadian connections will look to foil the Hall-of-Famer’s Scandinavian curtain call. Resolve, of whom Ontarian Edward Wilson is a co-breeder, gained a second invitation to the Elitlopp by virtue of his victory in the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial at The Meadowlands on May 6. The six-year-old was second to Nuncio in last year’s renewal, and this year will have to tackle the illustrious Bold Eagle (Franck Nivard) in their elimination heat. As per usual, trainer Åke Svanstedt will drive 15-time winner Resolve.

The fields for the Elitlopp elimination heats follow, listed by post position, horse, country, driver, and trainer:

Heat 1

1 – Spring Erom (Sweden) – Christoffer Eriksson - Dan Widegren
2 – DDs Hitman (Finland) – Ulf Ohlsson - Petri Puro
3 – Delicious US (Sweden) – Örjan Kihlström - Daniel Redén
4 – Tjacko Zaz (Sweden) – John Campbell - Timo Nurmos
5 – Bold Eagle (France) – Franck Nivard - Sébastien Guarato
6 – Cruzado Dela Noche (Sweden) – Björn Goop - Stefan Melander
7 – Takethem (Denmark) – Steen Juul (trainer/driver)
8 – Resolve (USA) – Åke Svanstedt (trainer/driver)

Heat 2

1 – Up And Quick (France) – Franck Nivard - Franck Leblanc
2 – Twister Bi (Italy) – Christoffer Eriksson - Jerry Riordan
3 – Propulsion (Sweden) – Johan Untersteiner - Daniel Redén
4 – Nuncio (Sweden) – Örjan Kihlstrom - Stefan Melander
5 – In Vain Sund (Sweden) – Erik Adielsson - Daniel Redén
6 – Timoko (France) – Björn Goop - Richard Westerink
7 – Dante Boko (Sweden) – Adrian Kolgjini - Lutfi Kolgjini
8 – Elian Web (Finland) – Janne Soronen - Katja Melkko