by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Senior Newsroom Correspondent

Jerry Riordan, now based at Halmstad Trav in Southern Sweden, had a very good weekend as two trotters from his stable took victories in big stakes races in Sweden and Norway.

Last month Riordan received the 7-year-old Italian trotter Ringostarr Treb (sired by Classic Photo) from Holger Ehlers in Italy. On Saturday (July 8) Riordan raced Ringostarr Treb for the first time with Wim Paal in the sulky.

As Ringostarr Treb had not raced since the Sweden Cup on Elitlopp weekend and Riordan had targeted the trotter for an upcoming mile race next weekend, he decided to race Ringostarr Treb Saturday without shoes and with an open collar without a check.

Ringostarr Treb was nearly flying as the gate left the field and took the lead going into the first bend, but then went off stride and seemed to be out of the race. He was more than 50 yards behind the field before he was back on the trot.

“When I got him back trotting,” Wim Paal said, “I just wanted to give him some training, but as he came up to the field, I could feel that he was very strong, and when I took him to the outside, he just went off like a rocket!”

Ringostarr Treb came flying outside down the stretch to win the 1-5/16th mile Golddivision, beating some of the best trotters in Sweden in 1:53.2f (mile rate).

It was a stunning performance — it was just unbelievable — and the performance of Ringostarr Treb became the talk of the day!

Kanal 75 photo

Twister Bi after the win, with trainer Jerry Riordan and driver Christoffer Eriksson.

On Sunday afternoon (July 9) Riordan raced the 5-year-old Twister Bi (he by Varenne) and also an Italian trotter in Norway.

Three weeks ago Twister Bi, driven by Christoffer Eriksson, won the Oslo Grand Prix coming from behind, but Sunday afternoon Eriksson directed Twister Bi to the lead in the Ulf Thoresen Grand International over 1-5/16th miles at Jarlsberg in Norway.

Twister Bi stayed on to win by open lengths in 1:53.1f (mile rate) followed by Lionel and Oasis Bi.

The purse in Norway was $100,000, while Ringostarr Treb picked up a check for $17,000 in Sweden.

Riordan trains 35 trotters in Halmstad and he is going to have his best year after transferring to Sweden from Italy. So far trotters trained by Riordan have earned a combined $980,000 in 2017; that is just $59,000 less than the stable’s earnings in 2016.