by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

The 3-year-old Swedish trotter Readly Express, driven by Jorma Kontio, took everybody by storm in winning the prestigious Svensk Trav Kriterium on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 27) at Solvalla.

Kanal 75 photo

Readly Express won the prestigious Svensk Trav Kriterium on Sunday afternoon at Solvalla.

Readly Express was parked out the whole trip. In fact, he had to go three wide around the first turn before he came up outside the leading favorite Mister J P, driven by Bjorn Goop. Mister J P was unbeaten in eight races and looked like a winner going around the last turn.

But going into the stretch Kontio pulled the earplugs and Readly Express responded well and won the 1-5/8th mile event in 1:57.1f (mile rate) followed by Pythagorus Face, driven by Ôrjan Kihlström, who followed Readly Express the whole trip. Mister J P finished third.

Readly Express, who is sired by Ready Cash and out of a Viking Kronos mare, raced for just the sixth time. Timo Nurmis, who now has trained five winners of the Kriterium within the last ten years, trains him.

The purse for the winner was $235,000; the same purse was earned for second place by Pythagorus Face, who is sired by Muscle Hill. In Sweden, breeders and owners can choose from a premium of $2,500, which to be paid out if the horse as a 2-year-old qualifies in a special race, called a Premium race. However, breeders and owners can choose to skip this Premium race and instead the horse will get the double purse in the classic races.

Pythagorus Face got a double purse — as did the winner of the Oaks, Spoil Me, driven by Kenneth Haugstad — and both trotters belong to the same owner. Spoil Me got no less than $330,000 for her win, so the owner, AB Svensk Reklamefinans, picked up a check for $565,000 this Sunday at Solvalla.

Spoil Me won the Oaks, raced over the 1-5/16th mile distance in 1:55f, a new Swedish record.

AB Svensk Reklamefinans is one of Sweden’s biggest owners of Standardbreds and owns 90 trotters. Most are trained by Roger Walmann. Magic Tonight and D’One are some well-known trotters owned by the company.