The Scandinavian Open winner Ami De Vega is Scandinavia’s highest handicapped horse. Together with Espen Hill he was dominant over the longer distances on the Scandinavian racecourses in 2025, while Lord Mountbatten and Twirling Ghost were the best milers. Aphelios, Lamborghini BF, Great Wish and Aurinko were on top over the short distances.
A CAVALCADE OF THE YEAR THAT WAS.
In the coming period RaceTime will focus on the best performances in Scandinavia in 2025 by the older horses, the horses in the Derby crop and the 2-year-olds respectively. This article deals with the older horses that particularly made their mark in the past season.
It is a subjective assessment, which is however largely based on the figures of the Scandinavian general handicapper Nicholas Cordrey.
NOTES.
- Highbury (Galileo) is unraced in Scandinavia.
- Duca Di Como (Clodovil) has been retired. He is one of the best horses we have seen in Scandinavian training. Duca Di Como won a Group 3 race and 10 Listed races. He reached a maximum handicap of 97.
- Plantstepsdream (Planteur) did not run in 2025, and he is no longer in training. He was a Listed winner three times.
- Ultima (Amaron) ran twice in Dubai and once in Germany this year before she picked up an injury that ended her racing career. In 2024 she won the Arqana Herbst-Stuten Preis (Gr.3) in Hanover.
AMI DE VEGA A COMMANDING WINNER OF THE SCANDINAVIAN OPEN.
The year’s first feature race for the older horses was the Scandinavian Open Championship (Gr.3), which ended with a clear win for Stall Perlen’s home-bred Ami De Vega, who was making his seasonal debut.
Later in the year Ami De Vega won the Oslo Cup ahead of Double Ux (Magician), who won three races this year and ended the season with a win at Klampenborg in the Sensommer Stayer Cup.
Ami De Vega’s perhaps best performance ever came when he was only narrowly beaten into second in the Fürstenberg-Rennen (Gr.3) over 2400 metres at Hoppegarten this year.
After a longer break from racing Ami De Vega ended the 2025 season with fifth place in the Grosser Allianz Preis von Bayern (Gr.1). It is very rare that we see Scandinavian-trained horses in Group 1 races, and Ami De Vega handled it well.
Ami De Vega was entered for the Stockholm Open International (Gr.3), but unfortunately he did not line up.
It would have been interesting to see Ami De Vega take on the foreign stars Nastaria (Outstrip) and Claymore (New Bay), who took the honours instead.
The Norwegian Derby winner of the year before last and dual St. Leger winner Ami De Vega is extremely well bred. He is by the French Derby winner Lope de Vega (Shamardal), who is one of Europe’s leading stallions and stands at Ballylinch Stud in Ireland at a covering fee of 175,000 euros.
His dam Amie Noire (Soldier Of Fortune) won the Svenskt Oaks as a 3-year-old and three Listed races as an older mare. Like Ami De Vega she is owned by Stall Perlen.
With 95 in the general handicap Ami De Vega is the highest handicapped horse in Scandinavian training.
Ami De Vega just seems to get better and better, and it will be interesting to follow him in the years to come. He is trained by Jan-Erik Neuroth, who rode him in the Norsk Derby, which was his father Wido Neuroth’s last Derby win as a trainer before his son took over.
Karin Salling’s Mozart (Le Havre) was second in the Scandinavian Open (Gr.3), and on his next start at Klampenborg he won the Pokalløb on Derby day ahead of Good Fortune (Appel au Maitre).
Mozart had a fine season. He was second in Stockholms Stora Pris (Gr.3), where he was beaten by Admiral De Vega (Lope De Vega). King David (Elusive City) was third and ran his last race here. He now continues his exceptional career as a stallion.
Later in the season Mozart was second in Marit Sveaas Minneløp (Gr.3), where Simply Minds (Belardo) was first past the post.
THE 9-YEAR-OLD ESPEN HILL STILL IMPRESSES.
In 2023 Ozack AB’s Espen Hill (Helsinki) won his biggest race to date, when he won Scandinavia’s most prestigious race for older horses, the Stockholm Cup International (Gr.3), ahead of the English Frankel son Outbox.
2024 was something of a sabbatical year for Espen Hill, who ran only once, but this year Espen Hill has come back strongly.
Espen Hill perhaps impressed most in 2025 with his third place in the Stockholm Cup International (Gr.3), where he was the best placed Scandinavian-trained and Scandinavian-bred horse, but had to give best to the two foreign visitors Nastaria and Claymore.
Espen Hill followed up with three wins in a row that show his great versatility.
First in the SFK Jubileumslöpning (L) on dirt at Jägersro over 2400 metres. Then in the SM Classic on turf at Bro Park over 2100 metres. It was the third time Espen Hill won the SM Classic.
And finally in the Songline Classic (L) on dirt over 2100 metres at Bro Park, which he won for the second time, and where he beat another of the older star horses in Scandinavia, Lord Mountbatten (Connect), in a thrilling finish.
The distance was probably a little too short for Espen Hill and a little too far for Lord Mountbatten, so it was very fitting that they crossed the line almost together.
THE SUPER MILERS TWIRLING GHOST AND LORD MOUNTBATTEN.
Lord Mountbatten, who is owned by FTHK Racing and is in training with Niels Petersen at Øvrevoll, came from a Listed win in the Peas And Carrots Mile at Jägersro, where he beat his big rival in 2025 Twirling Ghost (Twirling Candy) and gained revenge for two defeats by him earlier in the season.
Stald Poulard HB’s 5-year-old Twirling Ghost, who is trained by Roy Arne Kvistla at Bro Park, had another super season.
He has to date won nine of his 20 starts, and he has proved to be one of the best Scandinavian-trained milers.
In 2025 it became wins in the Valley Chapel Memorial (L) ahead of Lord Mountbatten and Aphelios, and for the second year running a win in the Tattersalls Nickes Minneslöpning (L) at Bro Park, again ahead of Lord Mountbatten. Both wins on dirt.
APHELIOS SUFFERED HIS FIRST DEFEAT ON TURF IN SCANDINAVIA.
In the year’s biggest middle-distance race at Jägersro, Pramms Memorial (L), Twirling Ghost was beaten by both Aphelios and Lord Mountbatten.
Before this season began, Aphelios (Kodiac) was unbeaten in his first six starts in Scandinavia on turf over the shorter distances.
And in the Pramms Memorial (L) over 1750 metres Aphelios showed that he also handles the slightly longer distances – and on dirt at that.
Väsby Häst AB’s fantastic horse, who is in training with Annike Bye Hansen, at the same time continued to put the rest of the Scandinavian sprint elite in their place.
It became wins in the Bro Park Vårsprint (L), the Zawawi Sprint Cup (L) at Klampenborg and the Polar Cup (L) at Øvrevoll, where he beat Youonlyliveonce (Sidestep), who won four times at Øvrevoll this year. All races that Aphelios had also won in 2024.
I particularly remember Aphelios’ win at Klampenborg on Derby day in the Zawawi Sprint Cup.
Shortly before the line it looked like a certain win for Aphelios. But then Great Wish (Night Of Thunder) came closer and closer with great strides. For a moment it looked as though Aphelios would suffer his first defeat on turf, but he just held on. One of the best races of the year.
I would have liked the late Lone Kaj-Nielsen to have seen that race.
But everything comes to an end. On his last start of the year, the Bro Park Sprint Championship (L), Aphelios was beaten by Lamborghini BF (Holy Roman Emperor).
Both Great Wish and Lamborghini BF have produced very fine performances in 2025, and they both ended the year on a handicap of 93, the same as Aphelios.
Great Wish has developed into one of Scandinavia’s very best sprinters. At Klampenborg he was beaten in his four starts in 2025 only by Aphelios in the Zawawi Cup (L).
In the three other starts Great Wish, who is trained by Bent Olsen, won, and he rose 10 kilos in the handicap during the season.
Before his win in the Bro Park Sprint Championship (L), Lamborghini BF was a close fourth in the Hoppegartener Fliegerpreis (L) in Berlin, and before that he had won three races over the sprint distances on Jägersro’s dirt.
Lamborghini BF is owned by Hästgruppen i Lund AB, who have already had great success in recent years with, among others, I Kirk (Eishin Dunkirk) and Plata O Plomo (Paddy O’Prado), who both won races at Meydan in Dubai in 2019 and 2020 respectively, as well as a host of feature races at Jägersro.
Lamborghini BF is trained by Fredrik Reuterskiöld, and the only defeat at Jägersro in 2025 came in the Zawawi Cup (L), where he was beaten by Aurinko (Karakontie).
Aurinko is in training with Roy Arne Kvistla at Bro Park, and he came from a commanding win in the Challenge Cup (L) on his home track, where he beat Great Wish, Admiral De Vega and Twirling Ghost.
DERBY WINNERS WE MISSED.
Unfortunately we got to see only one of the last two years’ five Derby winners in 2025, namely Ami De Vega.
Neither the 2023 Swedish Derby winner Ayani (Starspangledbanner) nor the 2023 Danish Derby winner Slava Ukraini (Moohaajim) ran this year.
Last year’s Danish Derby winner, Brigadier (Moohaajim), as is well known lost his life in December 2024 as a result of an acute twisted gut, and last year’s dual Derby winner, Schamyl (Appel au Maitre), has not raced this year.
Both Slava Ukraini and Schamyl are still in training, so hopefully we will see them in the 2026 season.
And earlier Scandinavian Derby winners did line up at Klampenborg.
The 2020 Danish Derby winner, Chess Racing’s Ready Teddy (Maxios), won the Forårscup ahead of Good Fortune, but like his stable companion Ayani he went to the eternal hunting grounds later in the season.
Ready Teddy also won the Danish St. Leger in 2020. He ran his best races at Klampenborg, where as an older horse he won five times over the longer distances and reached a maximum handicap of 90. Ready Teddy was in training with Jessica Long.
The 2021 dual Derby winner Stroxx Carlras (Footstepsinthesand) has been a rare visitor to Klampenborg, and he had never won at Klampenborg before.
But Stroxx Carlras was – to the surprise of several – in top form at Klampenborg on 30 August this year, when under top weight he easily won the Elo Ervolders Mindeløb ahead of Silver Legend (Dark Angel), to whom he gave five kilos.
I hope we see Stroxx Carlras again next year at Klampenborg.
The 2022 dual Derby winner, Hard One To Please (Fast Company), also paid a visit to Klampenborg this year, where he was sixth in the Scandinavian Open Championship.
Hard One To Please has now been retired. He won two Group 3 races. The Stockholm Cup International as a 3-year-old, and Marit Sveaas Minnelöp the following year.
Hard One To Please, who was in training with Annike Bye Hansen, reached a maximum handicap of 95.
MY FORTUNE ON HIS WAY INTO THE OLDER ELITE.
In last year’s Danish St. Leger winner and Derby third My Fortune (Appel Au Maitre) we have a horse to reckon with in future in the big races for the older Scandinavian horses over a distance.
My Fortune began the season with wins in the Breeders’ Cup Trial and the Dansk Breeders’ Cup, before he met the older Scandinavian elite for the first time in the Pokalløb at Klampenborg.
There it became a satisfactory fourth place, 3½ lengths behind the winner Mozart.
My Fortune then won the Breeders’ Trophy Mile commandingly at Bro Park, before, in a dream of a race and a very close finish, he beat Good Fortune in a photo finish in the Skandinavisk Grand Prix.
Good Fortune (Appel au Maitre) has not won a feature race this year, but he has been close several times.
4-year-olds often find it hard when they meet the older elite, but My Fortune showed with his results in 2025 that he can hold his own in that company.
A 3-YEAR-OLD FILLY BEAT THE OLDER FILLIES AND MARES.
Thunder Sea (Night Of Thunder), Easywithme (El Kabeir) and Una Matina (Golden Horn) have won or run prominently in most of the bigger races for fillies and mares in Scandinavia in 2025.
The Sceptre Stakes at Klampenborg was on the programme as early as 26 April and was won by Iyana (Mastercraftsman) ahead of Go On Carlras (Harzand) and Easywithme.
Iyana is a half-sister to the Swedish Derby winner of the year before last Ayani (Starspangledbanner), and at first it looked as though she could be an interesting new addition to the Scandinavian fillies’ and mares’ elite, but she disappointed for the rest of the season.
The year’s first Listed race for fillies and mares, the Bloomers’ Vase at Bro Park, was won a little surprisingly by Una Matina, who commandingly – and for the first time with blinkers – ran the race of her life and beat the Tina Mortensen-trained Blueridge Silver (Siyouni) and Easywithme.
And in the Margareta Wettermarks Minneslöpning at Jägersro last year’s dual Oaks winner, the Niels Petersen-trained and owned Easywithme, finally managed to beat the older fillies and mares with Thunder Sea closest.
Thunder Sea came back strongly later, though. She gained revenge at Klampenborg on Derby day, where she beat Easywithme in the Elkær Stutteri Fawzia Stakes after a fine duel.
Thunder Sea continued her winning run when she won the Lanwades Stud Fillies and Mares Stakes (L) at Øvrevoll ahead of Capitana Bling and Easywithme.
The 3-year-old Capitana Bling (Invincible Army), who came from wins in both the Norsk 1000 Guineas and the Altamiralöpning, impressed on that occasion in the older company.
And that it was no fluke she showed on her next start, when she won the Lanwades Stud Stakes (L) at Bro Park easily ahead of Blueridge Silver and Thunder Sea.
Capitana Bling looks set to be a significant contender in next year’s big races for fillies and mares.
In the year’s last bigger race for fillies and mares, Jockeyklubbens Avelslöpning over 2400 metres at Jägersro, the 3-year-old Ylva Brandt-trained Bay Princess (New Bay) took her third win of the year.
She comfortably beat Ninasimone (Rio De La Plata), who came from a win at Bro Park in the Stockholm Fillies & Mares Stakes, and the Swedish Oaks winner Supernova Bling.
SIX WINS IN A ROW OVER OBSTACLES.
It is a long time since we had jump races at Klampenborg Racecourse. But at Bro Park the racedays almost always start with a hurdle race (Häcklöp).
In 2022 New York Strip (Appel au Maitre) won the Danish St. Leger and became Lea Olsen’s first classic winner. Since then New York Strip has added several more wins.
This year Tobias Hellgren has taken over the training, and he is himself a part-owner of New York Strip, who has now started running over obstacles.
And with great success. New York Strip has won all six of his starts in steeplechases at Bro Park this year. That must be a record. Quite remarkable.
New York Strip was bred by Stald Jupiter (Nina Falck Larsen and Gert Larsen).
FAREWELL TO MANY STARS.
2025 was a year in which several of the top horses in Scandinavia of recent years ended their racing careers.
Ayani, Duca Di Como, Hard One To Please, King David, Plantstepsdream, Ready Teddy and Ultima.
That paves the way for new stars, and fortunately there are many on the way.
