Timo Nurmos is traveling to France again. On Monday he will work with Readly Express and after that he will decide on his next start.
- I want to feel how the horse has recovered after the Prix d'Amerique," says Nurmos, who was stuck at Arlanda on Sunday when all flights were canceled.
The Solvalla coach is sitting at Arlanda when we reach him on Sunday afternoon. The airport is in chaos after the intense snowfall of the last 24 hours, with many flights canceled or severely delayed. Nurmo's flight to Paris is already six hours behind schedule.
- "We were supposed to fly at eleven this morning but it has now been postponed to 17:00. I hope we'll be able to leave then," says Nurmos, who is traveling with his vet Nicholas Dimitri.
A few hours later he calls back.
- We have just been informed that all flights are canceled now all day. Some have landed but no planes have taken off from here today. We have to spend the night in a hotel at Arlanda and fly tomorrow morning at seven instead. We've been waiting for nine hours but there's nothing we can do about it and there are worse things," says Timo.
Recent times have been hectic for the Finnish rider. A week ago, Readly Express put in a heroic performance to finish third in the Prix d'Amerique, and on Saturday, Victory Topline and Erik Sting scored a double victory in the V75 finals. Now he is on his way to France and after arriving at the airport on Monday morning, a three-hour drive awaits him to Björn Goop's branch in Mortree in Normandy, where Readly Express is during his stay in France. After the fast track on Monday afternoon, Nurmos will announce when the next start will be for the superstar.
- I want to feel how the horse has recovered after the Prix d'Amerique. He was unbelievably good there and even better than last year when he won. I'm proud of the horse and everyone around him who works with him," says Timo Nurmos.
- If he's good at his job now, we'll start in the Prix de France next Sunday. Or it could be the sprint race in Nice in March, the Criterium de Vitesse. It is also not impossible that it will be both races. We'll see, but there will be no start in the Prix de Paris over 4000 meters, says Nurmos and leaves the door neither open nor closed to a start in Elitloppet.
- I can't say anything about it right now. It depends a lot on whether he will be in the breeding as last year. If so, it will be impossible to be in Elitloppet.
