V75®: The super star's start a gift to the trotting industry in Värmland
Håkan Arvidsson owns and has bred one of the best trotters in the world.
Arvidsson is also from a part of Sweden called Värmland.
That is a big part of why the small track in Årjäng gets a visit from San Moteur on Saturday.
"We want to give back to the trotting industry in Värmland" says Arvidsson, whose star trotter will be the giant favorite in Årjängs Stora Sprinterlopp, also V75-7.
After finishing second in a dead heat in Elitloppet in May, the plan was for San Moteur to get some time off from racing.
Åby Stora Pris in August was mentioned as the next start.
But the wait became too long.
Håkan Arvidsson, the uncle of trainer Björn Goop on the maternal side, has made the trip from Kil in Värmland to Menhammar in Stockholm a couple of times a week to train his horse.
San Moteur has combined breeding with training during the month of June and he has felt better and better at the training tracks on Ekerö. Actually, he has felt so good that the connections had to reconsider their decision.
Instead of waiting to August to race, they have now decided to make the trip to Årjäng this Saturday to race in Årjängs Stora Sprinterlopp, a race over 1,640 meters with SEK 600,000 to the winner.
Håkan Arvidsson was interviewed on TV12 this past Sunday.
"The horse is not in the same form he was at Elitloppet, I would guess it's a 7-8 out of 10 maybe. But time off has never been a problem for him, he has always raced well after a layoff. In the past, he has been good coming off a seven- or eight-month-long layoff and has delivered right away. Now we're only talking about a month" says Håkan Arvidsson.
San Moteur has won 18 of his 24 career starts and has made SEK 11 million.
A superstar in this sport and one of the best trotters in the world.
At 18:43 on Saturday evening, the gates will fold to release the field in Årjängs Stora Sprinterlopp. San Moteur will be the giant betting favorite.
"I expect a very good effort"
In the racing broadcast on TV12 this past Sunday, Håkan Arvidsson said that the horse was given two weeks off after Elitloppet, and after that, he has trained continuously.
Arvidsson has made the trip to Stockholm twice a week to train San Moteur.
"He has gotten a lot of training and I expect a very good effort. We think that he's in such good shape now and at the same time, Åby Stora Pris (August 12) is a long time away and we wanted to give him a start in between. We also had Hugo Åbergs at Jägersro to choose from, which is also in July but it's so nice to be able to race him 'at home' in Årjäng. We want to give back to the trotting industry in Värmland" says Arvidsson.
The last fine tuning at home
Sometime on Wednesday, the plan is for San Moteur to come home to Björn Goop's farm Lökene Gård in Kil.
"It will be so nice to have him back home again and I will train him here at home at Lökene one last time before the Saturday start.
The people at Årjäng racetrack are of course ecstatic. Johanna Karlin, the Racetrack Manager at Årjäng sent out the following press release:
"That is the dream horse for us and the majority of the local trotting fans see San Moteur as their big star and root for him. San Moteur will draw a lot of people to the Årjäng Racetrack. This is a race you just have to see live" says Johanna Karlin.