Around springtime every year, people come along to watch the greatest horse race in Sweden. The event is held in Stockholm at the arena “Solvalla” and is called Elitloppet. Elitloppet is a race that is driven over 1609 meters, and the start method is “autostart”.
The event is held over three days, and the final race is always on the last Sunday of May. The best horses from all around the world are invited, and the event attracts fans from all over the globe. This is the pinnacle of horse racing in Sweden, and we usually see around 50,000 fans at the event.
How many participants do we see at Elitloppet?
There are 16 horses all together who all are trying to win the event. 12 of the horses are invited, which is one way to get the opportunity to participate. The remaining four horses have all qualified by winning one of the four races where the golden ticket is at stake.
The four races that give you direct entry by winning them are Paralympatravet, Finlandia Ajo, Meadow Roads Lopp, och H.K.H Prins Daniels Lopp.
These 16 horses are then divided into two groups of eight. The horses who finish at the top four positions at each race, will qualify for the big final. The final race is then driven with eight horses, where the winner will walk away with a massive check of 5,000,000 crones.
What makes Elitloppet so special?
For all enthusiastic fans of horse racing in Sweden, this is the weekend. The event makes people come together in numbers, to watch a few of the world’s absolute best horses.
Solvalla, who is the host of the event, is the biggest track for horse racing in the whole of nordic. The arena has been standing firm since 1927, and is Sweden’s national arena for horse racing. Solvalla is one of the reasons that Elitloppet has become such a force.
Every year there are around 50,000 people who walk through the doors at the arena throughout the weekend. People are queuing up early to get the best places possible, and we often see people run through the doors like crazy.
At Solvalla we can also find more than just horses. There are a few really good restaurants and bars along the arena. Therefore the event attracts people who maybe aren’t the biggest fans when the weekend begins, but walks of spellbound of the beautiful sport.
Can you place bets on the races at Elitloppet?
Believe it or not, horse racing is one of the most popular betting objects in Sweden. People all across the country watch horse racing daily. A big amount of these people also place bets on these races.
So it’s no surprise that bookmakers also present odds on the biggest race of the year. Bookmakers always go in big on Elitloppet, and you have the opportunity to place more different bets than on the other races throughout the year. You can make a bet on the winner, if a horse gets top 3, and some head to heads for example.
V75 at Elitloppet
If you are a Swedish citizen, then you have the opportunity to place bets on the bookmaker ATG:s famous pool game V75. V75 is a Swedish classic where your aim is to get the winner of seven different races.
The turnover at V75 at the weekend of Elitloppet is always massive. There is more often than not over 100 millions in total turnover. Therefore the price of getting all seven races correctly, is massive as well.
V75 is a tough betting object to overcome. There you will need a lot of skills, and also a bit of luck sometimes. V75 is something that occurs every Saturday around the year, and is the highlight of the weekend for most of the horse racing fans out there.
There are a few ways to make life easier when it comes to betting on V75. One of those is to get some help here and there. Travcash is one of those friendly sites who on a weekly basis gives their betting tips for V75 all for free. Also, if you want to watch the race live you can watch it on the Swedish channel TV4.