Three-time trotting king Evartti is returning to the tracks in the near future.
Last summer in Forssa, Evartti won his third trotting crown. Santtu Raitala is the trusted driver of the super horse. Ida Laine / Finnish Hippos
The Suomenhevosori Evartti has been closely in charge of the race in recent years. Pihitputaa’s Antti Ojanperän the stallion trained and partially owned has won three consecutive trotting kings and won most of the other cold-blooded top competitions as well.
Last year, Evartti competed 19 times, won 11 times and earned more than 254,000 euros, which was the second biggest pot a Finnish horse has earned in one season. Evartti ended his season with five consecutive victories, the last of which was the Nordic Championship held in Turku.
The winter break is over five months now. Antti Ojanperä reports that the break went normally.
– Evart has been trained roughly as I wanted, Antti Ojanperä sums up.
– We have had a fairly good winter in terms of weather. Of course, the temperatures have fluctuated a bit, but the snow melts have remained quite good.
Evartti is now 12 years old and the upcoming competition season will be the ninth of his career. Ojanperä believes that his stallion will still be able to be in the shape of his life.
– Yes, it’s quite possible, at least nothing has appeared that Evart could still have a top season ahead of him, or preferably even a couple. We have to hope for the best, but when you look at other top horses, the line always runs somewhere, and there are no more than enough top seasons.
Soon to the tracks
Evart is scheduled to return to the tracks soon.
– I haven’t quite decided where to start, but it will definitely be in the near future, Ojanperä says.
Evartti has always been very successful, especially in the summer. Antti Ojanperä admits that Evart goes best in warm weather, but reminds that there are other factors related to peak fitness in summer.
– Evart has big muscles and certainly the temperatures have their own effects. Maybe it’s also aimed at them in warm weather, because then there is usually more money distributed than in winter, Ojanperä laughs.
Last year, the marching order of the Finnish horses was clear. Evartti and Parvelan’s Retu, who fought hard for the kingship of the troop, among other things, were above the others. The order between the two varied over the course of the season, but the others were usually far behind them.
– If Evartti and Parvelan Retu are as good as last year, they will be really tough this year as well. However, trotting is a difficult sport, and it doesn’t require these two to go through great adversity, the situation is completely different, Ojanperä reminds.
Last season, there was so much difference from the others that Ojanperä doesn’t think that he will suddenly emerge as the third tough player alongside Evart and Parvelan Retu.
– VG Voitto is certainly very good in the long run. However, it is only six years old now, and I don’t know how strong it is this season, but it has incredibly good ingredients.
Antti Ojanperä is one of the most successful Finnish coaches in recent years. He has had many really good horses in his stable, but a couple rise above the rest. Ojanperä’s first super trotter was Jokivarren Kunkku, who ended his career last year, and was crowned trotter king in 2015.
According to Ojanperä, Evartti and Jokivarren Kunkku stand out from the “usual good ones” in many ways.
– Their maximum speed is a degree faster, all you have to do is look at the clock during training. As a five-year-old, Evartti went so hard in training alongside Jokivarren Kunku that none of our other Finnish horses have gone that way, says Ojanperä.
– The running head and character are different, and of course the ease of the trot. When you ride such horses, you somehow feel that the power comes from them really deep. The power is more explosive in a way.