Will Marion Marauder’s trip to Sweden fly?
Will they or won’t they? That is what the connections of Canada’s best trotting horse have to decide, in short order.
What is in question is a European campaign for the five-yearold Marion Marauder, a multiple award-winning performer the past two season for owners Jean Wellwood and grandson Devin Keeling of Cambridge.
Looming on the horizon is a trip to Stockholm, Sweden for the Elitlopp, one of Europe’s most prestigious races. It has been won only once by a Canadian horse because it is arguably one of the most difficult challenges in the game.
Mike Keeling and his wife, Paula Wellwood, developed and train the earner of more than $2.6 million. They are based for the winter at Pinehurst Training Center in Pinehurst, N.C., with a team of 12 young horses.
“We have yet to make a decision for several reasons. While we have had discussions with officials from Sweden there has been no official invitation issues,” Mike Keeling said.
“One hiccup is the fact that are no longer any direct flights right into Stockholm for the horse. Apparently, that just changed and if we have to go through Holland or something of that nature it is a definite no-go.”
There is also the matter of it having been a difficult winter in Pinehurst and all the horses are a little behind in their training schedules.
“Marauder looks great and he’s a bit behind, but not a terrible amount and he could catch up quickly.
“Right now, we are figuring on coming home April 12 which would mean he would qualify likely the end of that month. Before then we will know what is going to happen, but it’s all up in the air at the moment.”
Had things worked out differently, Marion Marauder would not be racing at all.
The intention was to retire him at the end of his three-year-old season to enter stud in Ontario. However, a disappointing fertility test negated that and he came back to race last season winning over $700,000 in just 10 starts.
“That test breeding stressed him quite a bit and we are not addressing it again until later in his career. I was not unhappy to get him back to race and we stuck to our guns with just 10 starts. It was a very good year,” he said.
“I think this should be another. He is 200 pounds heavier and thicker. I was just looking at some videos of him as a threeyear-old and he now looks like a linebacker.”
He will need all the power he can get this year because the competition just gets deeper especially if he does go to Europe.
The Elitlopp features all the best trotters in the world in two heats on the same day.
And the style of racing is different than North America which has always been the biggest challenge to North American invaders.
But having a horse good enough to take to Europe is a privilege in this demanding game. The Swedes take hosting the race very seriously and do not hand out invitations without great forethought.
They dearly want Marion Marauder to come to challenge their best as he did in the $1 million International Trot at Yonkers Raceway in October where he finished second.
Marion Marauder has all the credentials to participate in the 2018 Elitlopp.
It would be good for all of harness racing to see him go to Sweden. But the devil is in the details and all in the hands of his connections.