Rotation will face the toughest Breeders Crown race of his life Saturday without his famous part owner, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin.
Sundin is at home in Sweden, and decided not to make the trip to Toronto for the $1,081,081 Breeders Crown Open Trot at Woodbine. The Leafs' National Hockey League training camp begins in Sweden in two weeks.
Sundin owns a 20-per-cent interest in Rotation, a four-year-old trotter that beat the best aged trotters on the continent about three weeks ago, winning the $450,000 (U.S.) Nat Ray Trot at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
Rotation is also partly owned by the Norwegian Viking Stable of Oslo and Swedish national coach Hardy Neilson.
Trainer Harald Lunde picked the colt out of the Harrisburg sales as a yearling for $40,000. In July, he sold a half interest to a Swedish group that includes Sundin, who has been involved in harness racing for the past four years. Also included in the group is Erikssunds Stud Farm of Stockholm, where Rotation will eventually go to stand at stud.
Rotation's Nat Ray victory was big news in Sweden, Lunde said, and after the race an excited Sundin vowed to be "there next time, that's for sure."
"But I don't think he wanted to travel all the way here and then back again," said Lunde, 57, who has raced in North America for the past six years. The Leaf captain will watch the Breeders Crown in Sweden.
"He will come to the farm and visit the horse," Lunde said. "I think he will like it better that way." Lunde has a farm at Moffat, Ont., a 10-minute drive from Mohawk Raceway.
Rotation has won $701,686 in his career and a victory in the Breeders Crown on Saturday would turn him into a millionaire. In the Nat Ray, Rotation upstaged Fools Goal, a goofy eight-year-old trotter that has mended his erratic ways in the past couple of years to earn $2.3-million.
Fools Goal won an elimination heat last week, enabling Canadian-born trainer Jim Doherty to pick post position one. The rest were drawn last night and Rotation drew the No. 7 post. He did not have to qualify for the Saturday final last week because of his high earnings ($437,413) this season. He will try to make amends for his appearance in a Breeders Crown race at Woodbine last year, when he finished last, distanced by the field.
The Breeders Crown Open Trot is not the only major stakes race that Woodbine will feature Saturday. There will be $3.3-million in prize money, including the $729,730 Breeders Crown Open Pace, the $405,405 Breeders Crown Pace for mares, and the $1,122,700 Metro Pace for two-year-old pacers.
Although the mares' pace has the smallest purse, the race features the three richest pacing mares in the history of the sport, with a total of $7-million in earnings.
Eternal Camnation ($2.7-million), won Breeders Crown races at ages two and four. Bunny Lake, ($2.3-million) won 18 consecutive races in 2000, including a Breeders Crown event and horse-of-the-year honours in the United States. She has won the Roses Are Red Stakes at Woodbine on Aug. 16, her 10th win in 17 starts this season. Worldly Beauty ($2-million) was favoured to win Breeders Crown races at ages two and three, but was defeated both times.
Rotation became a major international contender in late July when he finished second to Kadabra in an open trot at The Meadowlands, trotting his final quarter with blinding speed, in a time of 26 seconds.
He will be driven Saturday by Trevor Ritchie of Acton, Ont., who piloted the colt when he won the Nat Ray.
"He's a great big strong good-gaited world-class quality horse," Ritchie said. "He beat the best horses that can trot at The Meadowlands. . . . The way he raced at The Meadowlands, I'm very confident he can race with anything."