by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Last year’s winner of the Kentucky Futurity, Snowstorm Hanover, won the Big Noon Trophy at Solvalla Tuesday night (Aug. 14) in 1:55.2f with standing start, equaling the world record for that distance held by French Laundry.

This was the first win in seven starts in Sweden for Snowstorm Hanover (sired by Muscle Massive), now owned and trained by Stefan Melander and driven by Ôrjan Kihlström.

Second was another USA-bred trotter, Waffle Cone (sired by Muscle Hill), driven by Erik Adielsson, who was beaten by a half-length. The purse for the winner was $32,500.

The main events at the card at Solvalla were the Jubilee Trophy and the European Championship for mares, both raced over the 1-5/16th mile distance.

The Jubilee Trophy was won by Makethemark (sired by Maharajah), driven by Ulf Ohlsson and trained by Petri Salmela in 1:54f (mile rate). The purse was $109,000.

The European Championship was won by Darling Mearas (she by Cantab Hall), driven by trainer Stefan Persson in 1:54.4f (mile rate). The purse was $98,000.

Earlier on the day the action was in France, where Aubrion du Gers, driven by Jean Michel Bazire, for the second year in a row won the prestigious Grand Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Enghien, a race over approximately 1-3/4 miles with a purse for the winner of $76,000.

Aubrion du Gers was timed in 1:54.4, which was a new race record.