by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Creatine, driven by Johnny Takter, is the favorite in the Sundvall Open Trot at the Bergsaaker racetrack in northern Sweden this Saturday afternoon (Aug. 29).

In his last start, Creatine finished out of the money as he had to race from the second tier behind the gate. He was boxed in most of the trip.

In the Bergsaaker he will race from post position three and will probably be able to take command when the gate leaves the trotters.

Creatine will face another North American-bred trotter, Delicious, driven by Ôrjan Kihlström, who trotted to a world record for older mares of 1:50.2f over the mile last time out.

Another world record performance was posted on Thursday evening (Aug. 27) by the 3-year-old filly, Crème de la Crème, driven by Anders Svanstedt, the oldest son of Ake. Crème de la Crème won at Aby in 1:56f (mile rate) over the 1-5/16th mile distance, lowering the former record at that distance by three-fifths of a second.

The top French stallion Ready Cash, who is also the sire of the top French trotter, 4-year-old Bold Eagle, is the sire of Crème de la Crème.

Bold Eagle returned to action after four months rest earlier in the day and won very impressively over a sloppy track at Vincennes in 1:59.1 (mile rate) over 1-11/16th miles.

Bold Eagle has been to stud this year, and he has covered the maximum allowed French mares of 100 and another 40 foreign mares.

You may now be familiar with the top Swedish driver, Ôrjan Kihlström, who has won twice with D’One, trained by Roger Walmann in the United States.

Kihlström is “the King” at Solvalla and on Wednesday night (Aug. 26) he won four races and is leading the drivers’ standings with 90 wins. Among his winners was Volstead (sired by Cantab Hall), who won the C. Th. Ericssons Memorial over 1-5/8th miles in a new Swedish record of 1:56.2f (mile rate).

As Kihlström was in the United States last week, Norwegian-born Kenneth Haugstad got the chance to drive in the E3 final for Roger Walmann. Haugstad was behind Heavy Sound (sired by Ken Warkentin), who won a $100,000 purse easily in 1:54f.

Princess Face, sired by Muscle Hill and driven by Adrian Kolgjini, won the filly division in 1:54.2f. The purse here was also $100,000.