V75® (Sunday): Goop's speed phenomenon ready for Elitloppet
He has won Prix d'Amerique and Elitloppet three times each as a driver and has driven some of the best trotters in the history of harness racing.
Now, he trains one himself.
"When it comes to the ability to accelerate, he is in the same category as Bold Eagle and Face Time Bourbon" says Björn Goop about San Moteur, the favorite to win Elitloppet going into the Sunday trot fest at Solvalla.
He has not lost when staying flat since the Swedish Trotting Derby in 2021.
His last visit to Solvalla ended with a splendid performance and a new world record.
The Paralympic Trot was his dress rehearsal and it ended just as brilliantly.
On Sunday, San Moteur goes out in Elitloppet as the favorite with the possibility of stepping up on the throne as Europe's new superstar.
All this after only 22 lifetime starts, which makes him the least experienced horse in the field, by far.
Still, they waited an extra year. The seasonal debut as a five-year-old showed that San Moteur was developing into an extraordinary horse when he easily beat Önas Prince despite trotting on the outside in HKH Prins Carl Philips Jubileumspokal on Good Friday 2022.
A performance that made him a wanted horse for the biggest sprint race in the world.
"I voted for racing in Elitloppet. My analysis was that the 2022 edition would be a weaker race than 2023, which I suspected would be much tougher. I saw it clearly, by looking at which horses were on their way up. That's why I thought it was good to try already in 2022 but at the same time, you want to prioritize a long racing career. So, the decision was to wait" says Björn Goop in a long conversation at his farm Lökene Gård in Kil, nine days before Elitloppet.
Instead, the campaign as a five-year-old turned into a short story with only six starts and ended with the performance in Jubileumspokalen in a new world record time of 1:09.7/2,140 meters, again after having trotted on the outside and being visibly unused at the finish line.
The only loss came in the Oslo Grand Prix, but that was maybe the effort that proved the amount of talent San Moteur actually has when he recovered after losing a lot of ground, making an early break and looking completely unused at the finish line after having been locked in around the last turn.
"At their level when it comes to speed"
He comes to Solvalla after winning the Paralympic Trot – which was more of a one-horse-show on his way to the SEK 1.5 million first prize after Goop had made a move to the front halfway through the race.
But despite his extreme top speed, San Moteur is yet to prove that he can leave fast out of the gate, which usually is a very attractive attribute in Elitloppet.
"He has that gear within himself, but we have deliberately avoided activating it. We have focused on keeping him calm and not making breaks at the start. He is mentally very close to getting that early speed activated too. But since we are going to race this horse for a long time, I prefer focusing on the horse closing fast rather than leaving fast".
"When it comes to pure acceleration speed, I would say that he is at the same level as Bold Eagle and Face Time Bourbon. He is at their level when it comes to speed, but he has a long way to go to reach their enormous success. We just have to see how far he can go".
For whoever is not familiar with the two French horses Bold Eagle and Face Time Bourbon, they are considered two of the very best trotters in modern times.
They dominated in Europe between 2016-2021 and each won Prix d'Amerique twice.
The latter did it with Björn Goop in the sulky and together they won 25 races and finished second 5 times in 30 starts, exclusively in the toughest races.
A shortened career meant that he did not reach the same heights as Bold Eagle - the richest French trotter of all time with over SEK 50 million in earnings who had Björn Goop in the sulky five times.
High-class and wide-open
Bold Eagle is also the horse fastest horse ever at Solvalla - in his 2017 Elitlopp elimination, he came up with a fantastic effort outside the leader to win in 1:08.4.
A performance that was still in the horse's legs in the final where he lost as the mega favorite to Goop, behind the second winningest horse in France, the then ten-year-old Timoko.
That was Goop's third and most recent victory in Elitloppet, where his strongest memory is from 2014. That was the first time he crossed the finish line as the winner, also then with Timoko.
"It was overwhelming to win it 'for real'. We got the win in 2007, with Conny Nobell long after the race and I was pretty tired of hearing that 'I had never won, but still won'. That went on for a few years, so the feeling when I won with Timoko was incredible. But the most fun win was when Timoko won the second time. There were no expectations whatsoever, he was the big, wonderful surprise. That win became extra emotional because one of the part owners, Jan Offenberg had passed away due to cancer the year after his first Elitlopp victory. He got to see his horse win Gran Criterium de Vitesse in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 2015, and passed away the day after. So there were a lot of emotions involved in that victory".
What do you think of this year's Elitlopp?
"I think the overall quality of this year's Elitlopp is the best ever, the depth level is so high. It also feels like one of the most wide-open fields ever. It's just an incredibly strong field this year".
"The best I have seen him train"
Despite training the horse, Björn Gopp pretty much never sits behind the horse in training. His uncle Håkan Arvidsson, who is both the breeder and the owner, does that.
Björn sees him train almost every time, either through binoculars from his kitchen window, or trackside. San Moteur is always the first one to train, around 6:30 in the morning when everything is quiet at the farm.
"It works out great for him, Håkan thinks it's nice that they have a set routine and that he gets a good picture of how San Moteur is every day. I watch him train every time and should there be any problem, I would get up behind him to figure it out".
Nine days before Elitloppet Håkan trains San Moteur in three intervals on the track. In the last one, he lets the horse go on the straightaway and he just takes off the way he does, almost hovering above the ground.
"I don't think he's ever looked this good. These two starts where he got rid of some energy have really done him well. he is more focused now than he was a few weeks ago" says Håkan Arvidsson.
"Very calm, smooth, and in perfect harmony. Overall it's probably the best I have seen him train" says Goop.
Post time for the first Elitlopp elimination is set at 15:28.
San Moteur comes out in the second elimination at 15:55, scheduled as V75-3.
The final with SEK 5 million to the winner goes off at 17:45.