A big change is seen in trotting sports.
There will be 21 fewer trotting days next year. Stock photo. Seppo Haavisto / AOP
Finnish trotting is about to experience a historic change next year.
Hippos ry, the central organization for trotting and horse breeding announced on Friday, that the trotting weeks of the winter season will be six days in the future.
In the future, there will be shortened trotting weeks from mid-November to mid-April. During that time, raves are not run on Thursdays, unless the competitions have to be postponed to another day due to bad weather or frost.
In addition to the Thursdays that fall in the time frame in question, there will be no ravaging in Finland next year on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or on the 30th-31st. May, when the big event Elitloppet takes place in Sweden.
Due to the change, the 2026 trotting competition calendar has 21 fewer trotting days than in the current year.
It is a long tradition in Finland that raves are organized every day of the year, except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Even in 2024, raves were organized 363 days a year.
However, two days without food were added to the competition calendar this year, when Elitloppet brought two more days off.
Cost containment
The reductions in competition days are focused on the winter season, because the number of horses and competition activity are lower. At the same time, the change aims to respond to the decrease in funding in the sector and to curb costs.
– The provincial railways grant application for 2026 opened on Monday. The total amount of award support to be applied for is 18.2 million euros. If this happens, the prize level for trotting will remain at the current year’s level, which is certainly a relief to many players in the industry, trotting competition director Arto Hytönen says in the Hippos press release.
– The cut in prize support, approximately 439,000 euros, can be covered through the reduction of competition days.
Eight main tracks
Based on the recommendations of the working group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Hippos has named eight main tracks that will be responsible for the core of next year’s winter season competition activities.
These tracks bear the main responsibility for organizing competitions in the coldest months, while the provincial and summer tracks supplement the trotting offer from spring to autumn.
Vermo, Turku, Tampere, Lahti, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Seinäjoki and Oulu have been named as the main railways.