by Karsten Bonsdorf, USTA web newsroom correspondent

At present 12 trotters have been invited to race in one of the world’s most prestigious harness races, the Elitlopp, at Solvalla on Sunday, May 30. The organizers still have to invite four more.

The Lou Guida-owned Lisa America was the 12th trotter to be invited after her impressive win in the Oslo Grand Prix this past Sunday afternoon.

As of today, the following trotters are invited: 1. Lucky Jim (USA), 2. Define The World (Canada), 3. Enough Talk (USA), 4. Torvald Palema (Sweden), 5. Beanie M.M. (Sweden), 6. Nu Pagadi (Germany), 7. Quarcio du Chene (Sweden), 8. Brioni (Germany), 9. Copper Beech (Germany), 10. Iceland (Sweden), 11. Nimrod Borealis (France) and 12. Lisa America (Italy).

On Wednesday, May 17, several candidates will race in France in the Prix des Ducs de Normandie at the Caen track in northern Normandy. This is a race over 1-1/2 miles with a total purse of $200,000.

The 9-year-old mare Nouba du Saptel is favored to win, but her owner and trainer have already declared that they won’t send her to Solvalla. Nouba du Saptel wears a special head gear which is not allowed in Sweden and they don’t think she will race at her best without it.

But other likely candidates in the race are the winner and second place finishers of the 2010 Prix d’Amerique, Oyonnax and Quaker Jet.

The Danish trotter Korvet Klintholm is also a possible candidate after a very impressive win in 1:54.3f last week.

Trio of German trotters to start in Elitlopp

As you may have noticed, three German trotters are invited to the Elitlopp — an impressive result as harness racing in Germany has suffered badly in the last 10-15 years.

In a recent press release from the German Harness Association it stated that in 2003 1,505 trotters were foaled in that country; last year it was down to 611.

The turnover in the tote has also fallen dramatically. In 2003 betting on harness racing in Germany was at $141 million, but in 2009 it was only $35.8 million.

The German Harness Association has just decided to change the format of the German Trotting Derby. Over the years it has been raced with eliminations and a final on the same day. This year it will be raced like the Hambletonian with eliminations a week before the final.

The German Trotting Derby is for 3-year-old German-bred trotters and the eliminations will be raced at the historic Mariendorf Track in Berlin on July 25 and the final on August 1. The distance is 1-3/16th miles and the total purse is $150,000.

Trebol scores in Mallorca

Harness racing is very popular at the little Mediterranean island, Mallorca, with two permanent racetracks that compete year- round. On Sunday afternoon the biggest race of the year, the Gran Premi Nacional, with a total purse of $125,000 was raced at the main track, Son Pardo, which is placed just outside Palma de Mallorca.

This was the 77th running of this race, which is for 3-year-old Spanish-bred trotters and over the 1-5/16th mile distance.

The race had a very heavy favorite in Trebol, driven by Gabriel Angel Pou. Trebol had won his last 10 races and he won number 11 very easily in 2:01.2 — lowering the race record by a second.

Trebol is sired by the French sire Hot Blues, who is the sire of another talented Spanish 3-year-old, Tambor.