by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Plainfield, NJ — Anette Lorentzon, a native of Vanjo, Sweden, who now makes her home in Florida and Kentucky, has been in the United States for only four years, but somehow the 25-year-old has managed to assemble a 22-horse stable along with some pretty well heeled foreign investors as well.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Surtees Hanover will be seeking his first win of 2008 in Saturday’s American-National.

One of those investors, Stall Zenith Handelsbolag of Sweden, has entrusted the training of 2007’s Champlain Stakes winner and Peter Haughton runner-up, Surtees Hanover, to Lorentzon, and the stakes could be high for both trainer and owner alike, when the internationally traveled colt gives it a try Saturday night, August 23, in the $200,000 American-National at Balmoral Park.

“Last year (trainer) Jonas Czernyson had him and a couple of Swedish guys bought him and brought him back to Sweden,” said Lorentzon.

“They raced him there twice (he earned $16,585 abroad) and then they brought him over here with the idea of racing him in the Hambletonian. At the end of May they had him in the quarantine in Maryland for a month. After that they had him at White Birch Farm in New Jersey and qualified him once in I think 1:57 or so (1:57.1). Then they raced him once in 1:54.4 (finishing sixth in a 3-year-old Open at The Meadowlands) and they said he was okay.

“They put him in the Hambletonian and he was no good at all so they asked me if I wanted him because the trainer there (Roger Walmann) had about 160 horses home in Sweden. They asked me if I would take him and of course I said I would.”

Surtees Hanover, a bay colt by Andover Hall from the Brisco Hanover mare Sharise Seelster didn’t make it past his Hambletonian elimination for his new Swedish connections. On July 26, the unpredictable colt finished a well-beaten sixth in his elimination. Atomic Hall won that elimination in 1:54, but went on to finish ninth in the Hambletonian Final.

Since Hambletonian Day Surtees Hanover has been laying low and regrouping at a farm in Lexington, Ky. He made a recent comeback of sorts when he finished second to NF Rivertown in the $100,000 Colonial Consolation II at Harrah’s Chester. With Andy Miller aboard, Surtees Hanover displayed some of the speed that attracted pre-Hambletonian interest in him in the first place.

Parked to the quarter in :28, Surtees Hanover gunned around the fast leaving NF Rivertown. He cut the mile alertly only to falter in the stretch. The final time was 1:56.3, with Surtees Hanover trotting his second-place mile time in 1:57.

“He trotted perfectly at Chester but he could have been better,” Lorentzon said. “He got beat by a horse who got a perfect trip behind him and he needed a race. So far so good but we will take one race at a time for now.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photo

Anette Lorentzon has trained the winners of $1.7 million in her four years in the United States.

“When I first got him I went over him and couldn’t find anything wrong with his blood or when I scoped him. It was just small things that bothered him — nothing major. I changed his shoes and a little bit on the bridle — not much — and I think he’s starting to get better. I think his race at Chester was good for him.

“He’s very nice and easy to be around. When he gets into a paddock or detention barn he gets bored and kicks the walls and we try to work with that.”

Surtees Hanover began his career with a sixth-place 2:04.3 qualifier at The Meadowlands on June 16, 2007 for trainer Jonas Czernyson and driver David Miller. After another qualifier in 2:01.4 the colt cranked up the volume for Dave Palone and easily won a $23,068 PASS at The Meadows in 2:00.2 despite a long, first-over journey. The following week Palone again won with him in 1:59 despite a long, overland trip from post eight, and that’s when the Surtees Hanover buzz started.

A week and a half later the colt ran off by three lengths in 1:58.3 in a $10,000 overnight event at The Meadowlands for Luc Ouellette, and followed that with a 1:57.3 win for Palone over Credit Press in an elimination of the Peter Haughton. In the $467,000 Peter Haughton final at The Meadowlands, Surtees Hanover could only manage a :31.2 last quarter and finished second to Blue York Yankee.

After a brief rest he was requalified at Chester and went on to win both an $84,942 Champlain Stakes division and a $28,500 William Wellwood elimination at Mohawk Racetrack for David Miller. In the $517,689 Wellwood final the precocious youngster got a tough first-over trip and finished third to Windsong Espoir and B Strike Three.

Surtees Hanover then went on to Lexington where he flashed some dazzling speed in winning a $91,000 Bluegrass Stake division in 1:56 after leaving hard from post eight. The following week he was again overpowering at Lexington when he crushed the field in a $90,500 International Stallion Stake split at Lexington in 1:55. Subsequently the colt found himself on an airplane headed for Sweden.

Surtees Hanover returned to the races as a 3-year-old on April 16 with a third-place finish in Sweden and an ensuing second-place finish in Norway. His return to the United States came in the form of a qualifier on July 3 for his new trainer Roger Walmann. With 23-year-old driver Johan Untersteiner in the bike, Surtees Hanover finished second to Viking Defender in 1:57.1. Untersteiner had previously earned fame in the U.S. when he steered Giant Diablo to her world-record 1:50.1 at Lexington in the Allerage Farm Trot.

On July 18 the colt failed to fire in a $30,000 Open event and fared even worse in his Hambletonian elimination. Subsequently he was handed over to Anette Lorentzon.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Surtees Hanover won eight of 10 starts as a freshman in 2007.

“We are going to take one start at a time and see what happens,” said Lorentzon. “It’s hard to tell because I only have him a couple of weeks and he just raced once for me. He raced okay but this time I hope we race him from behind and see where he stands. Of course he is not going to be at the top of his level but I hope I can get him better and better with each start. He still has the (Kentucky) Futurity and the Matron and the Breeders Crown and he’s paid into the Canadian Trotting Classic. I just hope he gets better and better — that’s what I am trying to do with him.

“He is a pretty big horse and pretty good looking. People tell me he is a typical Andover Hall. I don’t know because I have not had too many of them but his head looks like Andover Hall — and he stands straight.”

Lorentzon has made the most of her few years in the United States and if she can get Surtees Hanover back to his old form she might quickly add to her already big stable.

“I have 22 horses,” sighed Lorentzon. “I’ve got pretty good people working for me here and I have horses in Canada where my sister and her boyfriend are doing the work. I have been traveling around a lot but so far everything has been going good.

“Four years ago I had some money back in Sweden and my dad always liked the racing in the USA. He told me to come over to the USA and try it. I had horses under my dad in Sweden, most of the time I was too young to have horses on my own, but when I left I was training ten.”

Hopefully the fresh face of Anette Lorentzon can put a fresh face on the career of the once highly touted Surtees Hanover. He’ll be hooking up with some tough customers like Clerk Magistrate and Kajan Kooker when he hits the track at Balmoral Saturday night, but in spite of his trainer’s claims that he might not yet be up to snuff, a return to his previous form just might land this colt in the winner’s circle.

Editor’s Note: The American-National 3-year-old colt trot will be part of the USTA’s Cyber Circuit, meaning that a video replay will be available shortly after the race has been contested. For more information on the Cyber Circuit, click here.