He has less in his bank account than many of the other participants have earned in a single race.
The idiom ”A cat among the stoats” has - at least in advance - not been better suited to horse number 15 invited to this year's Elitlopp; Fine Manners!
- Fine Manners was high on my list early on. Even though his last performance was questionable, he is obviously not a worse horse than he was before that. And when Mattias Djuse came sneaking in this week with positive reports, I was not slow to bite. It feels like a top horse as number 15 in the Elitloppet, Fine Manners is also finely bearded, says Solvalla's sports manager Ola Lernå.
Fine Manners comes to Elitloppet with 16 wins in 20 starts and his speed resources have charmed many - especially the horse's trainer Mattias Djuse.
- He is without a doubt the fastest horse I have trained. He has felt incredibly nice in the job and on Thursday he was delicious! After a short discussion with the owner, we agreed to try if the chance was given, says Mattias Djuse.
Fine Manners was qualified for STL's silver division final on Saturday at Solvalla, but Mattias Djuse quickly had to step into the registration system on travsport.se and ”change races” for his black delicious piece.
But a silver horse in Elitloppet? What can one hope for?
- We are here to win. Otherwise I wouldn't have accepted the ticket," says Mattias Djuse with a wry smile.
Facts about Fine Manners
Age: 6 years
Sex: Gelding
Father: Chocolatier
Mother: Behaving Well
Result: 20 pcs: 16-3-0
Earned: SEK 1,460,000
Record: 1.09,7 autostart (1609m)
Owner: Einari Vidgren Oy, Finland
Coach: Mattias Djuse
Nurse: Caroline Bood
Breeder: Menhammar Stuteri AB, Ekerö
Nationality: Finnish
Elitloppet is the main attraction during the Elitlopp weekend, which will be held at Solvalla in Stockholm on May 29-31, 2026. Elitloppet is an invitational race where 16 horses compete in two different heats with eight horses in each. The top four in each trial meet in a final where the winner receives five million SEK.
Horses invited to Elitloppet 2026: Go On Boy (France), Inexess Bleu (France), Jobspost (Sweden), A Fair Day (Sweden), Allegiant (Sweden), Idao de Tillard (France), Jabalpur (Italy), Borups Victory (Sweden), Dream Mine (Sweden), Diva Ek (Italy), Gio Cash (Netherlands), Keep Going (France), Don Fanucci Zet (Sweden), Charron (Norway), Fine Manners (Finland).
