He was long in the conversation for one of the sixteen places last year - this year he will start in Elitloppet.
Vernissage Grif is horse number seven to be ready for the last Sunday in May.
- He won several major races in Sweden last year and can decide the races on his own, says Solvalla's sports manager Anders Malmrot.
Vernissage Grif is coming from a big race victory in Turin in his home country Italy where he won the Premio Costa Azzurra with 154,000 euros in total prize money on a new course record, but the participation in Elitloppet 2022 will not be the first start on Swedish soil for the eight-year-old Italian stallion.
Vernissage Grif had a great summer in Sweden in 2021 where he could count two big victories. In mid-June, he won Jämtland's Grand Prix in Östersund from the outside leader in an impressive 1.11.3 over medium distance. A victory that was rewarded with SEK 700,000. He then finished his start in Sweden by winning Årjängs Stora Sprinterlopp with 500.000 in first prize where he sprinted to victory in 1.09,7 over 1640 meters and the beautiful colt has won a total of 34 victories in the 100 starts of his career.
In Saturday's V75 Direkt on TV4, Solvalla's sporting director Anders Malmrot announced that Vernissage Grif is horse number seven to be ready for Elitloppet 2022.
This is the first time we will see the horse at Solvalla and the pink ticket to Vernissage Grif also means that trainer Alessandro Gocciadoro now has two horses in this year's edition - this as the runner-up from last year, Vivid Wise As, has already been invited.
- "Vernissage Grif is a whirlwind that will undoubtedly be a very exciting ingredient in Elitloppet," says Anders Malmrot.
Facts Vernissage Grif
Age: 8 years
Sex: Stallion
Father: Varenne
Mother: Dalia Grif
Start/Result: 100 (34-16-10)
Earned: EUR 714 963
Record: 1.09,2 autostart (1609m)
Owner: Gennaro Riccio
Coach: Alessandro Gocciadoro
Attendant: Andres Boldura
Breeder: Allevamento il Grifone SRL
Nationality: Italian
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), Vivid Wise As (Italy), Back Of The Neck (USA), Extreme (Denmark), Perfetto (Canada), Vernissage Grif (Italy)
