Sixteen horses compete for eternal glory and fame at Solvalla in the world's biggest sprint race.
Elitloppet 2025 was drawn on Sunday and the two Swedish favorites Francesco Zet and Borups Victory ended up on track two and track six respectively.
As usual, there was a lot of nerves as the two trial heats took shape. During the live broadcast on TV12, the tracks for Elitloppet 2025 were drawn and now it's just for the speculation to start: which horses will move on from the trials and who will later take home the victory in the final? Is it time for a new Swedish victory in 2025?
Francesco Zet was played as the favorite in the Elitlopp final in 2024, but had to settle for fourth place behind Horsy Dream and is now back for revenge. The seven-year-old trained by Daniel Redén was drawn to perfect lane two in his trial race and the stable's other entrant, Don Fanucci Zet (who won the Elitloppet in 2021) drew lane three. A very successful draw for the Solvalla trainer.
Borups Victory was second in the final last year after a very sharp performance, and this year trainer Daniel Wäjersten hopes that they will be able to take home the victory. It would be the biggest triumph of the career for the Trainer of the Year in Sweden 2024. In their trial heat, track six was the starting point for Borups Victory, but the stable also has Mellby Jinx, who debuts in Elitloppet, he drew track four.
France has won the Elitloppet at Solvalla the last three years through Etonnant, Hohneck and Horsy Dream and has a quintet coming to defend the French colors. Former winners Etonnant and Hohneck will be joined by Go On Boy, Hussard du Landret and Hooker Berry.
This year's two most distant guests are Logan Park (Canada) and The Locomotive (Australia) who are participating for the first time. They ended up on track five and track seven in their trials and in total seven different countries are represented in Elitloppet 2025.
Elitloppet is the main attraction during the Elitlopp weekend, which will be held at Solvalla in Stockholm on May 23-25, 2025. 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 five million SEK.
Trial 1 Elitloppet 2025:
1. amazing (France) - Trainer: Richard Westerink - Driver: Anthony Barrier
2. Francesco Zet (Sweden) - Coach: Daniel Redén - Driver: Örjan Kihlström
3. Go On Boy (France) - Coach: Romain Derieux - Driver: Romain Derieux
4. Mellby Jinx (Sweden) - Trainer: Daniel Wäjersten - Driver: Mats E Djuse
5. Logan Park (Canada) - Trainer: Robert Fellows - Driver: Doug McNair
6. A Fair Day (Sweden) - Trainer: Elisabeth Almheden - Driver: Oscar Ginman
7. charron (Norway) - Trainer: Geir Vegard Gundersen - Driver: Magnus Teien Gundersen
8. Always Ek (Italy) - Coach: Alessandro Gocciadoro - Driver: Alessandro Gocciadoro
Trial 2 Elitloppet 2025:
1. Hohneck (France) - Coach: Philippe Allaire - Driver: Gabriele Gelormini
2. Hooker Berry (France) - Coach: Franck Leblanc - Driver: Nicolas Bazire
3. Don Fanucci Zet (Sweden) - Coach: Daniel Redén - Driver: Paul Philippe Ploquin
4. Mellby Knekt (Sweden) - Coach: Timo Nurmos - Driver: Magnus A Djuse
5. Hussard du Landret (France) - Coach: Benoît Robin - Driver: Benoît Robin
6. Borups Victory (Sweden) - Trainer: Daniel Wäjersten - Driver: Daniel Wäjersten
7. The Locomotive (Australia) - Coach: Brad Hewitt - Driver: Brad Hewitt
8. Massimo Hoist (Finland) - Coach: Jukka Hakkarainen - Driver: Hannu Torvinen
