The top of Finnish horses is currently exceptionally hard, but at the same time also narrow. The royal race can experience a real shortage of horses.
According to Markus Poroka, Virin Urho, who is fifth in the king’s trot points, will miss the king’s race this year. Moona Mäntyvaara / Finnish Hippos
- 12 stallions and 12 mares are entered into the main series of the royal trot.
- This year, it may be difficult for the stallions to gather the full number of participants.
- The coach, who has been very successful with Suomenhevos, considers the competition offer to be one of the reasons.
The number one event of Finland’s trotting summer, Kuninkuusravit, will be held in Kouvola in less than two months. The King’s Trots are a traditional sports and public celebration, the center of which are the participants of the kingship and queen competitions. The races comprise three legs over the course of two days, and superiority is decided on the basis of combined times.
The mare’s queen competition has usually had enough applicants to be eliminated, but the stallion’s kingship competition has been less crowded in recent years. This year, the situation looks downright alarming a couple of months before the Kunikuusrave. It may even happen that the full 12-horse team of participants is not available for the royal race.
At the top of the Finnish horses, the level is perhaps the highest ever, after all, Evartti and Parvelan Retu have constantly offered amazing sports experiences. Behind them, however, the situation is much worse.
Few sure names
The arrangements of the royal sets are followed Towards Kunikuusraveja with the point systemthe first ten of which are guaranteed a place in the main leagues of Kunikuustrovi.
On the stallion side, the top four in scoring are Evartti, Veeran Poika, HV Tuuri and Parvelan Retu, who are probably sure participants in the kingship.
Virin Urho, who has competed at the open level a couple of times, is fifth in points. The eight-year-old stallion is known for his strength, but he is just getting to the first level.
– Virin Urho is not aiming for the kingship, coach Markus Porokka seal.
– The King’s competition should be prepared in a different way than it was done with Virin Urho. It has been raced regularly, and no training period was held during the winter.
Porokka points out that Virin Urho would also not be entitled to participate in the royal contest. The special feature of the traditional race is that the horses participating in the race must be graded for breeding, or in the old-fashioned way, pedigree registered.
– Virin Urho was left unregistered in the winter on purpose, so that things don’t start to spread in the summer, Porokka mentions.
Heading for the better again
In the coming weeks, the royal trotting scoring will live on continuously, but there are few new names in the leading guard of Finnish horses. Of last year’s 12 kingship contestants, two had their right to compete at the turn of the year, and one’s career ended in last year’s kingship contest.
Ellin Sisu, who died a couple of weeks ago, is in seventh place in the stallions’ crown trot scoring, and in tenth place is Vixeli, third in last year’s crown race, who has not competed once this season.
At the moment, behind the top in the king trot scoring are mostly six-year-olds, whose participation in the king race is very rare. Most of them are not even close to the number one level in terms of winnings.
Markus Poroka has a clear vision of what causes the shortage of horses moving up to the open level.
– When there were no 75-divisions at times, the horses could not move up sensibly in their series. Yes, there have been horses, but when you have had to bang your head against the wall with them without being able to make money and rise in their series, they have broken at some point. That’s what is being paid for here, Porokka sees.
The divisional systems were restored at the beginning of this year. The division refers to fixed 75 series, for which competition opportunities with good prizes are regularly offered.
– When there were no divisions, it was difficult for many to compete regularly and rationally, and because of that, the horses got better. Now the situation is better again, but it takes time for new horses to rise.
At the top, the level is extremely tough thanks to Evart and Parvelan Retu. However, according to Poroka, that is not the deciding factor.
– They don’t make it any easier to reach the first level, but this is competitive sport. Usually someone has always been a step better than others.