Canada's Nello Guglielmi found the winner's circle during the opening leg of the 2024 World Championship for Amateur Drivers in Finland on Monday, Aug. 19. 

The first leg consisted of three drives at Teivo Racetrack in Tampere. In the third dash of the day, Guglielmi reset a galloping BWT Falcon early and saved ground with a pylon-skimming trip before finding room late to get up in the final strides of the 2,100 metre event.

After the opening leg, Guglielmi sits tied for sixth with 20 points by virtue of his win (13 points), seventh place finish (6 points) and disqualified horse (1 point).

A total of 12 amateur drivers are competing in the world championships. Here's the leaderboard after the first day.

1. Martin Andreasen (Denmark) - 29 points
2. Ove Bakkevold Reime (Norway) - 25 points
3. Cheree Wigg (New Zealand) - 24 points
4. Antonia Vaquer Staschel (Spain) - 22 points
5. Andrea Fazekas (Hungary) - 21 points
T6. Nello Guglielmi (Canada) - 20 points
T6. Patrik Fernlund (Sweden) - 20 points
8. Sami Nummi (Finland) - 18 points
9. Maximiliano Lacunza (Argentina) - 16 points
10. Xavier Bovay (Switzerland) - 13 points
T11. John Calabrese (United States) - 12 points
T11. Cliferty Calleja (Malta) - 12 points

The second leg of the championship is set for Mikkeli Racetrack in Mikkeli with three more dashes on Tuesday, Aug. 20 with the third and final leg and the final three races on Thursday, Aug. 22 at Jokimaa Racecourse in Lahti.

(Standardbred Canada)