Can Adrian Chip duplicate Scarlet Knight?

July 31, 2007

Six years after Scarlet Knight and Stefan Melander took the Hambletonian trophy back to Sweden, Adrian Chip and Robert Bergh could do the same. After winning their elimination last Saturday at the Meadowlands, Bergh chose post position three at Tuesday�s press conference/draw for this Saturday�s $1.5 million Hambletonian.

It was an amazing thing that happened in the 2001 Hambo when Melander, a Swedish horseman and accomplished equine photographer, decided to bring his U.S.-bred horse Scarlet Knight, who he had bought for $17,000 as a yearling at a U.S. sale, to the Hambletonian.

Remarkably, Scarlet Knight and Melander won. Swedish newspapers carried the news, including Melander�s quip that a Swede winning the Hambo was about as likely as a Swede stepping foot on the moon. Later he became known as �Sweden�s Man on the Moon.�

Adrian Chip, a colt bred in the U.S. who also raced in North America as a 2 year old and finished third behind Donato Hanover in the Breeders Crown championship, has also traveled from Sweden to try to win trotting�s greatest prize for 3 year olds. He won his Hambo elim in 1:54.2, one-fifth of a second slower than Scarlet Knight did in his 2001 elim. Scarlet Knight then came back and won the final in 1:53.4.

So can Melander�s feat be duplicated? He has seen both colts race and believes Adrian Chip might have a chance.

�I saw Donato Hanover as a 2 year old and I really liked him. He has the conformation and the measurements for a Hambletonian winner,� said Melander. �Perhaps Adrian Chip is his main competitor.�

Adrian Chip is owned by a partnership that includes hockey star Peter Forsberg, who has won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche and played on the Swedish Olympic team which captured the gold medal in Italy last year.

Forsberg and his father, Kent, have owned trotters together for a few years. Their trotting partnership got off to a very good start as one of their first purchases was Tsar d�Inverne, a Swedish Derby winner. The horse also competed in the 2004 Maple Leaf Trot at Woodbine and finished second to Mr. Muscleman.

Master Swedish horseman Robert Bergh trains Adrian Chip, a colt who, like Donato Hanover, is sired by Andover Hall.

Adrian Chip became a solid Hambletonian contender when he won the Ulf Thoresen Memorial race in Norway on July 15, setting a new track and race record for the 2,100-meter event. Perhaps most notably, he lowered the mark that had been set by Scarlet Knight in his Hambletonian prep.

One of the training regimens for Adrian Chip is trotting and walking up hills. �That�s the way I have had success with my other great classic winners (in the Swedish Derby and Kriterium),� noted Bergh.

�The main thing has been to keep him calm and relaxed, and I have not asked too much of him,� said Bergh, who added that he has raced Adrian Chip with ear plugs, and they have not yet been pulled. �If I should tap him with the whip, I know that he would trot faster. I think we have managed to keep him in perfect condition, and I also believe that he will be stronger in his upcoming races.�

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