by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Hambletonian winner Perfect Spirit raced for the first time Tuesday evening (April 17) in his new home country, Sweden, and won in a hand drive for top driver Ôrjan Kihlström at Solvalla.

Kanal 75 photo

Hambletonian winner Perfect Spirit won in a hand drive for Ôrjan Kihlström at Solvalla.

Perfect Spirit raced for the first time with a standing start and had to trail the field by 20 meters. With five-eighths of a mile to go Perfect Spirit came up outside leading Muscleman — a Finnish trotter driven by Pekka Korpi. Going into the stretch Perfect Spirit took over and won in a hand drive from Ôrjan Kihlström in 1:55.4f (mile rate), two-fifths of a second from the world record held by French Laundry.

“This is an extraordinary trotter,” Kihlström said after the race.

Perfect Spirit is owned by the SRF Stable and is trained by Daniel Reden.

Perfect Spirit will now be headed for the Kings Trophy at Aby later this month.