For a while mentioned as one of stablemate Bold Eagle's worst opponents in the winter races. Six-year-old colt Carat Williams lost his form but has regained his courage.
In Harper Hanover's race - Saturday's main event at Solvalla - the Frenchman is in the favorite position in the three-kilometer test of strength.
French coach Sebastien Guarato brings a quartet horses for the weekend with Elitloppet. Bold Eagle is one of the favorites in the Elitloppet and needs no further introduction. Sebastien Guarato also lines up with Carat Williams who shares the favoriteship in Harper Hanover's race (V75-7) with Daniel Redén's Call Me Keeper.
At least that's what Solvalla's sports director Anders Malmrot thinks after reading up on the drawn races.
- It should be Carat Williams and Call Me Keeper that get the most play. It felt great for Harper Hanover when Guarato decided to pick him too. With the French coming, it's clear that they have a horse in order. Carat Williams did a great race at Vincennes last time, says Anders Malmrot.
Carat William blossomed in earnest at the age of four. During the five-year-old season last year, he had a run of six straight wins, March to November.
In the fall, he won the biggest race for five-year-olds in France, the Criterium des 5 Ans, and it was somewhere along the line that the French began to raise him as one of the most serious threats to Bold Eagle in this winter's Prix d'Amerique.
However, Carat William went out of form and showed gallops in the Prix de Belgique and Prix d'Amerique, among others.
Anders Malmrot, however, saw a horse that was cut out for the strength test Harper Hanover's race and went the way of the horse's owner.
- I think it is a fantastic horse. He is both strong and very fast, and I think this one can round everything during the final lap at Solvalla. I asked one of the owners of Carat Williams last winter if they were interested in coming and that dialog was maintained through a contact I have. And a few weekends ago my phone rang - it was a very nice message I received," says Anders Malmrot.
Harper Hanover's race this year attracts 900,000 kronor to the winner, which will have helped to get everyone involved interested in the final V75 round on Saturday.
A day of racing at Solvalla with traditional finals in the V75 and the sprinter showdown Sweden Cup - with the race over three kilometers as the undoubtedly biggest.
Ulf Stenströmer's Handsome Brad recorded a world record over 2640 meters in the last start. Robert Berghs Tesio, Lutfi Kolgjinis Plato Face and Catarina Lundström Qahar Q.C. are exciting Swedes in the race.
The Solvalla horse Call Me Keeper comes from a second place in Orebro Intn'l and stands on the same supplementary flight, at the back, together with Carat Williams.
Caraten's driver David Thomain is one of the best in France.
Daniel Parling is a fan of the Frenchman's driving style. A connoisseur of French trotting, Parling is also active in the sport in the country with his partner Satu Liitiäinen in Chamant, a few miles from Paris, where the couple train nine horses.
- David is a very good driverI keep him as the four-five in France after the trio Bazire, Nivard and Raffin. I think Harpers is between Call Me Keeper and Carat Williams. But even if David Thomain is good, Keeper's driver Örjan Kihlström has a slight advantage from the start at Solvalla, a course he knows inside out, says Daniel Parling.
After a slow period of gallops, the six-year-old colt was good as third in his last start at Vincennes, says Parling.
- He was fine and without knowing how the coach thinks, I think it was a step forward compared to the other races this year," he says.
Sebastien Guarato is having great success in France these days. The quartet of horses from his stable that will compete at Solvalla are expected to arrive in Stockholm sometime on Friday.
In addition to Bold Eagle and Carat Williams, the French coach has with him Billie de Montfort for a start in the Sweden Cup and Ever Pride who will start in the Four-Year-Old Elite on Sunday.
Mikael Wikner, Kanal75
Photo: Scoop Dyga
