East
Rutherford, NJ – The Meadowlands is
pleased to announce that the inaugural edition of the track’s newest stake will
be titled “The Mack Lobell Elitlopp Playoff” celebrating the memory of that
great trotter. The purse is estimated to be $150,000.
Mack Lobell achieved
legendary status in a racing career that spanned six seasons. He was owned
during his early career by the One More Time Stables (principally Lou Guida)
while being trained and driven by Hall of Fame horsemen Chuck Sylvester and
John Campbell. Mack was Horse of the Year in 1987 and 1988 and won
virtually all of the classics including the Hambletonian, Yonkers Trot,
International Trot, three Breeders Crowns and the 1988 Elitlopp for those
connections. He was later sold to Swedish interests, went on to win Elitlopp
again 1990 and retire with career earnings of nearly $4 million.
The race
itself was born of a discussion Solvalla Racetrack Directors Markus Myron
and Christer Haggstrom had with Meadowlands brass Jeff Gural and Jason
Settlemoir during Hambletonian week last summer. Ideas were exchanged and
through their joint efforts a trotting bridge between continents has
resulted. A group of twenty or so is expected to travel from Sweden to America
to attend the race while The Meadowlands will send representatives to
Sweden for the Elitlopp.
International interest
in the event is very high. The Meadowlands' Sam McKee is working closely
with ATG in Sweden on commingling wagers into the Meadowlands pools,
which seems a distinct possibility. The Meadowlands is planning to
simulcast a block of seven races to Europe, headlined by the Elitlopp Playoff which will be the first
race on the Mother’s Day matinee card set for Sunday, May 8 at 12:40 p.m. There have been
discussions of having the Elitlopp Playoff race as part of the V75 wager.
Nominations to the inaugural
race number fifteen and include many of the finest trotters in North
America. Among them is 2015 Dan Patch “Trotter of the Year” JL Cruze who makes his first
start of the season on Friday at The Meadowlands. Also nominated are 2015
Breeders Crown winner Creatine, TVG FFA Championship winner Resolve and
millionaire mares Bee A Maician and Shake It Cerry. The complete list is
available on the track website.
The winner will be
rewarded with an invitation to participate in the 2016 Elitlopp at the Solvalla
Racecourse outside Stockholm, Sweden on Sunday, May 29.
Harness racing fan Ken
Burgdorf submitted the idea to name the race for Mack Lobell via a message sent
to the Harness Racing Fan Zone website.
