"I believe in a very good chance of winning. The travel has not affected the horse. Everything has gone well and he is in top form."
While he's never tasted this level of competition before, Take My Picture's trainer Nik Drennan is confident in his charge heading into this Sunday's prestigious Elitlopp. Prior to leaving for Sweden, the Classic Photo six-year-old gelding reeled off three straight wins against Woodbine's Preferred class including a lifetime best 1:52.3 mile on April 22.
Elitlopp administration decided to invite Take My Picture to represent a Canadian trotting interest after Mister Herbie's connections had to change plans due to the O'Brien Award winner's lingering foot issues.
“It is a big honour just to be here and it is a fantastic feeling to be a representative. I believe it is every trainer's dream to do something like this, I’m very thankful to be here”, trainer Nikolas Drennan told Swedish website ATG.
Take My Picture drew post two in the first elimination heat. Drennan trains the trotter for owners Joseph and Laurie Davino of Clarksburg, New Jersey. Jody Jamieson will make his Elitlopp debut as Take My Picture's driver.
Drennan feels his trotter's versatility will be to his benefit.
“His strength is that you can do anything with him. You can fire him up behind the gate, you can take it easy from the start and give him cover trips, and you can position him outside the leader," Drennan told ATG. "He has a very light gait and is fitted with light aluminum shoes at the front. He is very fast, built for high speed.”
The top four finishers will advance to the second heat, which will determine the 2013 Elitlopp titleholder. Among Take My Picture's rivals in the first elimination will be two of the top three finishers from the Oslo Grand Prix: Nesta Effe (PP1) and Maharajah (PP7)
"He is getting better and better by each race and if he continues like this, we will see a good race," concluded Drennan.