by Karsten Bønsdorf

Trotting fans from all over the world are gathering this weekend at the Solvalla racetrack on the outskirts of Sweden’s capital, Stockholm.

No less than 28 trotting races are programmed from Friday to Sunday with the prestigious Elitlopp Sunday afternoon as the main attraction.

Last year more than 30,000 fans attended the Elitlopp at Solvalla, where they saw Iceland, driven by Johnny Takter, win the race. The total handle that day was a record of $20.6 million.

Iceland is in the field again this year, with Ôrjan Kihlström in the bike, but the son of Hambletonian winner Scarlet Knight is not as good as he was last year.

The favorite is Trond Smedshammer-trained Arch Madness with the Swedish top driver Björn Goop in the bike. If Arch Madness wins the Elitlopp he’ll be the first North American-trained trotter to win since the great mare Moni Maker, driven by Wally Hennessey in 1998.

The Elitlopp is raced with two eliminations from which the first four finishers in each advance to the final.

The Swedish-owned, French trained Commander Crowe, who is in the same heat as Arch Madness, has been scratched sick.

Dusted Busted, a colt sired by Deweycheatumhowe, will sell on Friday night.

Friday evening the Elitlopp sale takes place and in the catalog of 100 yearlings are several sired by North American based trotting sires. There are no less than eight yearlings sired by Chocolatier in the sale.

Hambletonian-winner Deweycheatumhowe, whose first crop was born in 2010, has one yearling at the sale – a colt, Dusted Busted out of Richly Possessed – she by Self Possessed, out of the same dam as last year’s winner of the Dexter Cup, Flex The Muscle 1.52.4f – $521.426.

Last year the average price at the sale was $36,000, which was slightly up from the previous year.

The catalogue can be found at this link http://www.asvt.se/page53577.php.