by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Senior Newsroom Correspondent

The gold division at Ôrebro in Sweden Saturday afternoon (Oct 21) was supposed to be a victorious step for Nuncio on his way to Paris and the Prix d’Amerique.

Nuncio was the heavy favorite at 3-10 in the betting after an impressive win a fortnight ago, but in yesterday’s race Nuncio, driven by Stefan Melander, could not meet those expectations. He was fifth just past the post-five lengths behind the winner.

Day or Night In – a 5-year-old trotter sired by Muscle Hill – was in command the whole trip and was an easy winner of the 1-5/16-mile event in 1.56.2f (mile rate) followed by 12-year-old veteran trotter Spring Erom driven by Chistoffer Eriksson.

On the same card a valuable race for 2-year-olds was won by 15-1 shot Maze Runner driven by Johnny Takter in 1.58f. The purse for the winner was $66,000

Maze Runner, who is from the first crop by Swedish trotter, G H Nemo, he by Scarlet Knight, enjoyed a pocket trip behind leading Felicity Shagwell, driven by André Eklundh, but found racing room going into the stretch and finished to win by a half-length.