Richard Westerink has won the Elitloppet twice before with Timoko - now he comes with the son of the former Elitlopp winner to try to take another victory.
French Etonnant is the second horse to be ready for the last Sunday in May and the Elitloppet in 2022.
- He can do the hard work all the way and has characteristics that differ from many other horses," says Solvalla's sports manager Anders Malmrot.
Eight-year-old Etonnant has impressed in the past in monté where he has taken several big wins under saddle, but in recent years it is mainly sulky that counts and the French tough guy has shown great form lately. He took a nice victory in the Prix du Bourbonnais with 49,500 euros in first prize in mid-December on the way to the Prix d'Amerique, where Etonnant later became the favorite. Unfortunately, he didn't have his best day in the Prix d'Amerique, but has come back strongly in recent starts.
Etonnant finished second in the 4150-meter Prix de Paris in the penultimate start and followed this up with one of the biggest wins of his career on Sunday. This was in the Grand Critérium de Vitesse sprint race, where he went to the outside of the leader and proved his toughest as he won in 1.09.9 over the elite race distance of 1609 meters and took home the first prize of 90,000 euros.
During Saturday's V75 Direkt on TV4, Solvalla's sporting director announced that Etonnant is the second horse to receive a pink ticket.
- Etonnant is perhaps France's best horse at the moment and will be a big attraction for this year's Elitlopp, says Anders Malmrot.
Etonnant's biggest victory is from 2021 when he won the Prix de Paris with 180,000 euros in first prize and now he comes to Solvalla for the first time.
Facts Amazing
Age: 8 years
Sex: Stallion
Father: Timoko
Mother: Migraine
Starts/Results: 73 (16-14-4)
Earned: EUR 1 243 500
Record: 1.09,7 autostart (2100m)
Owner: Richard Westerink
Trainer: Richard Westerink
Attendant: Richard Westerink
Breeder: Christian Guy Vigier
Nationality: French
Elitloppet is the main attraction during the Elitlopp weekend, which will be held at Solvalla in Stockholm on May 27-29, 2022. Elitloppet is an invitational race where 16 horses compete in two different trials with eight horses in each. The top four in each trial meet in a final where the winner receives five million SEK.
Invited horses for Elitloppet 2022: Don Fanucci Zet (Sweden), Etonnant (France)
