by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Senior Newsroom Correspondent

It was quite the finish in the Aby Stora Pris at the Aby track in Gothenburg, Sweden, Saturday afternoon (Aug. 11).

Readly Express driven by Jorma Kontio, who had been in command most if the 3100-meter race (1-15/16 mile), was attacked by Propulsion, driven by Ôrjan Kihlström, going into the stretch. It became a heroic battle between two of the world’s best trotters. They went past the post side by side.

It was not possible to determine, who was the winner by the naked eye. The judges had to call for a photo and it seemed to take hours, before the result was posted.

Propulsion won by an upper lip. The time 1.57.4f (mile rate) was a new world record for the distance and track size.

One can say, that Propulsion is an all around trotter. On July 31 he won the mile race, Aabergs Memorial, and now he won a race on a distance nearly twice as long.

The purse for the winner was $220,000. Propulsion is owned by the Zet Stable and trained by Daniel Redén.

However, two bettors could each have won $2.2 millio in the V75-bet, if Readly Express had won the race. With Propulsion as the winner, bettors had to settle for the prize for six correct races, which was $4,000.

On the same card last year’s winner of the Hambletonian, Perfect Spirit, driven by Ôrjan Kihlström disappointed as 3-10 favorite and was second to a 47-1 shot, Alcoy, driven by Peter Untersteiner.