Co-trainer Greg Sugars admits his star trotter Just Believe handled the “epic” trip from Melbourne to Stockholm better than he did.
Just Believe, winner of the Inter Dominion and Great Southern Star in recent months, now has nine days to prepare for the world’s most ironic trotting race, the Elitloppet at Solvalla in Stockholm on May 28.
“It sounded daunting when we left home, but to be there with him all the way, it was absolutely epic,” Sugars told Adam Hamilton for Racenet. “He seems to have handled it really well, but I certainly hit the wall.”
Just Believe’s travel time was 60 hours from his Myrniong stables, just outside Ballarat, to the barn of Swedish Hall of Fame trainer Stig H Johansson, near Stockholm.
“We flew Melbourne to Bangkok, then to Doha, where we changed planes, and on again to Amsterdam, where there is a ‘horse hotel’ and we had a bit of a break,” Sugars said.
“Then we drove all the way through Germany and Denmark and over the bridge from Copenhagen to Malmo, in the south of Sweden. As great as it was to get to Sweden, we still had another seven hours or so driving from Malmo to Stig’s farm.”
Sugars said they won’t do much in the fit 24 hours, just let him have a “good stretch and settle in”.
CLICK: FULL STORY AT RACENET