by Karsten Bonsdorf, USTA web newsroom correspondent
Norwegian owned and trained, but Swedish bred, Yarrah Boko, driven by Ulf Ohlsson, won the Swedish Championship raced Saturday afternoon (Oct. 15) at Aby racetrack in Gothenburg.

Kanal 75 photo
Yarrah Boko won the Swedish Championship on Saturday.
The heavy favorite, Maharajah with Ôrjan Kihlström, went off stride just after the gate left the field and again later in the race. Maharajah, who was the 2-5 favorite, returned to racing after a four-month break and his trainer Stefan Hultmann was very satisfied with his trotter before the race, but certainly not after. This was a bump in the road for Maharajah, who was second in the Prix d’Amerique and who will be aimed for the 2012 edition of Europe’s finest trotting race.
Yarrah Boko, who was leading the field most of the way in the 1-5/8th mile event, had to fight hard to hold off a late charge from Nora Bean, driven by Stefan Söderquist. Nora Bean finished strong in the open stretch and just failed to get the better of Yarrah Boko. Both trotters were timed in 1:58.4f (mile rate). Old timer Torvald Palema, with Ake Svanstedt, finished third.
The purse for the winner was $90,000.
Yarrah Boko, who is 6-years-old, was a $24,000 yearling at the Elitsale in 2006. He has won 25 races from 56 starts and has lifetime earnings of $883,500. He is sired by the French champion Coktail Jet and out of the Pine Chip mare Big Blue Kitten, who won the Lady Suffolk Stakes in 2000.
Yarrah Boko is trained by Trond Anderssen, who has been the leading trainer in Norway since 2003.