Djuse’s France success and V85 at Bergsåker

Swedish harness racing driver Mats Djuse scored his first-ever victory at the Vincennes racecourse in Paris, driving Jörgen Westholm’s Ready Star. At the same time, one of Sweden’s best mares, Bobtail, has been entered. On Saturday, 7 November, V85 takes place at Bergsåker with 42 million kronor in the jackpot.

V85 at Bergsåker – 42 million in the jackpot

V85 is a trotting game where you pick the winner in eight races, and a jackpot means that a large prize pool has been accumulated because no one has had all the right picks. This Saturday, 7 November, it is V85 at Bergsåker, and according to Trav365, 42 million kronor is in the jackpot. Betting closes at 15.00.

Trav365's Robert Lipovac points to two so-called picks in his Early V85 thoughts, meaning horses he believes in for his races. The first one is in V85-5: 12 Svarte Petter, who, according to Lipovac, has gone from one clear favourite to another and is driven by Henrik Svensson. The second pick is found in V85-7. In Trav365's V85 interviews with Nils Larsson, strong warnings are also issued about a horse that tends to be overlooked. Source: Trav365 and Trav365

Djuse’s first win at Vincennes

A driver is the person who drives the horse in the sulky, the two-wheeled cart that the horse pulls. At Vincennes, Mats Djuse scored his first-ever victory at the track on Thursday, in the Prix d’Avranches with trainer Jörgen Westholm’s Ready Star. From post nine, he went straight to the lead, known as the front-running position, and led throughout the race. The prize cheque was 26 550 euro, approximately 290 000 kronor, according to Trav365. It was his second start at the French track.

Sulkysport describes the same victory as a display of dominance and states that the prize money in the race was €59.000. In the Group II Prix Reynolds (€120.000), Imagine d’Atout won ahead of the world record-holder Impala de Val, who had won five consecutive races going into the race. Sources: Trav365 and Sulkysport

Bobtail has fallen asleep – reached the age of 22

trotting mare Bobtail has fallen asleep, aged 22. She won 21 of 70 starts and earned 5.1 million kronor. She was trained by Stig H Johansson and won, among other races, the Breeders’ Crown and the 2008 Derby with Erik Adielsson in the sulky. She made her final start on 2 September 2011 and was subsequently used as a broodmare.

The owners Stall Tjädernäset wrote on Facebook: “Rest in peace, Your Majesty, and thank you for everything you did.” The horse was put to sleep in the forest paddock behind the stable, overlooking Tåsjön. Sulkysport calls her one of Sweden’s best mares of the 2000s. Source: Trav365 and Sulkysport

Breeding: Big Ranger and two successful mares

A breeding stallion is a stallion used for breeding. Anette Lorentzon's Hambletonian two-year-old Big Ranger will become a breeding stallion next year and will be stationed at Dublin Valley Farms in Ohio.

Annika Bootsman Kleberg has decided to take the successful mares Giraffa and Friendofthephantom into breeding next year. Source: Sulkysport and Sulkysport

Goop's pink sulky raises money for the Cancer Foundation

Star driver Björn Goop, 50, drove during October in a specially designed pink sulky bearing the words ”Fuck cancer”. Half of the driving earnings, the driver's share of the prize money, went to the Cancer Foundation and the other half to Olle Goops Minnesfond. “I reckon it amounts to around 200 000 kronor,” he tells SVT Nyheter Värmland.

Goop has won 168 races this year and earned over 39 million kronor. The total amount has not yet been fully determined, as several items are to be auctioned in November. Source: Trav365

In brief

• Before V64 at Boden on 5 November, Trav365 ranked 10 Hällebackens Nike first in V64-1, with the ranking 10–4–2–6–11–5–1–3–7–12–9–8. Trav365
• In V64-2 at Halmstad, 5 Altura won with driver Mikael Pilenberg, who stepped in when regular driver Thomas Linder was suspended. Trav365
• Björn Goop’s Intensity d’Arc sprinted to victory at Solvalla. Sulkysport
• The world’s fastest cold-blooded horse, Brenne Borken, will debut as a breeding stallion next year but is used only in Norway, says stallion keeper Odd Dvergsdal to TGN. Sulkysport
• Harness racing trainer Hanna Olofsson in Boden has the viral stable cat Moto Moto, who rides around in a golf cart and a quad bike and helps exercise the horses. Trav365
• Sulkysport writes about how equipment in harness racing has developed and asks whether everyone knows how to make the best use of a sulky. Sulkysport