World record shattered as Zarex serves Swedish Derby notice

Eskilstuna, Sweden. Zarex smashed the world record for four-year-old trotters over 2,640m at Eskilstuna recently, stopping the clock in 1:54.1 to erase the previous mark of 1:55.2 and throw down an emphatic marker ahead of September’s Swedish Trotting Derby.

The record had stood for two years, set in the same race, the $60,000 ICA Maxi Eskilstuna Fyraåringstest, by Fame And Glory, who went on to win that year’s Derby over the same 2,640m trip.

Driven and trained by Daniel Wäjersten, Zarex, a son of Readly Express, had the strongest support in the race in beaten favourite Perfect Chest, who was still able to challenge late despite the scorching tempo set in front.

Wäjersten built the pace steadily through the mile, and by the final turn had the rest of the field beaten off. Perfect Chest was the only one able to work into range in the straight, drawing level briefly before Zarex found another gear to pull away again to the line.

The 1:54.1 clocking takes down Fame And Glory’s four-year-old standard, and it does so with a horse still on the way up. Wäjersten was in no doubt about what he had underneath him.

“He was outstanding. We kept increasing the pace the entire way. My toughest rivals were right there turning for home, but he simply left them behind,” he said after the race.

“He’s really improved after the winter and has taken another step racing barefoot.”

That comment on the barefoot change is worth sitting with. Racing without shoes has moved from a fringe experiment to something more like standard practice across a number of top Scandinavian yards in recent seasons, the theory being that a lighter, freer action lets a horse carry speed longer into a race rather than just producing a sharper burst. Wäjersten’s read is that it has taken Zarex to a new level entering his Derby year, and a 1.1-second world record is about as strong a piece of evidence for that theory as a trainer could ask for.

The timing lines up perfectly. Fame And Glory used this exact prep race as a springboard to Derby glory, and Zarex has now beaten that horse’s clock over the same course and distance in the same lead-up event. If the form holds, Eskilstuna’s fastest four-year-old test race has picked the last two Derby form horses in a row.

It also raises the stakes for Perfect Chest. A horse good enough to be sent out favourite in a world-record race, and good enough to actually get within striking distance of Zarex at speed, isnot a swabbing footnote. Expect him to be talked about as a leading Derby rival in his own right over the coming weeks, rather than simply the horse who ran second on the night the record fell.

The $600,000 Swedish Trotting Derby is run over the same 2,640m in September, and on his world record run Zarex will head there as one of the leading fancies.

 

by Harnesslink Media