The winner of the first major Swedish race of the year will receive a ticket to Elitloppet.
- The Olympic race gathers the world elite year after year and it is a natural step that the winner of the Olympic race is also invited to Elitloppet, says Solvalla's sports manager Anders Malmrot.
The international Group I race Olympiatravet has been organized since 1979 and has been held at Åbytravet since 1985. Ten horses are allowed to participate and to get into the race you can either qualify through four different trial races or be invited by Åbytravet in consultation with Svensk Travsport and ATG. The winner of the race receives SEK 1,500,000 and from this year also an invitation to Elitloppet. The Olympiatravets final will be decided over 2,140 meters autostart on April 27 this year at Åbytravet.
- I see the fact that the winner of the Olympia race gets a Elitlopp ticket as a positive extra spice for our race. With a month to go until Elitloppet, it should be a race that is right in time to build towards top form. Something that last year's winner Ringostarr Treb showed when he won both major races, says Jon Walter Pedersen, sports manager at Åbytravet.
Ringostarr Treb is not alone in this feat. Seven more horses boast the same double in the same year:
Pershing (1979 at Jägersro), Meadow Road (1985), Copiad (1995), Varenne (2002) Gidde Palema (2004), Brioni (2011) and Commander Crow (2012).
In addition to the Olympic race, the winner will receive a Elitlopp place in Finlandia Ajo at Vermo in Helsinki on May 4 and in HRH Prince Daniel's race at Gävletravet on May 18.
Elitloppet is the main attraction during the Elitlopp weekend, which will be held at Solvalla in Stockholm on May 24-26, 2019. Elitloppet is an invitational race where 16 horses compete in two different trials with eight horses in each. The top four in each trial will meet in a final where the winner will receive three million SEK.
Press release from Stockholms Travsällskap
Photo: Micke Gustafsson / TR Bild
