French Rapide Lebel (Ginger Somolli – Koranie des Noes) was magnificent and outstanding when he won Åbys Stora Pris in two consecutive heats at Åby (September 17). Although, there was some drama before the first heat started. First, Rapide Lebel was missing a buxton and then the back of his harness broke in half. The gelding is not very easy to deal with, but luckily the event caused no accidents. Finally, they called the horses behind the gate for the third time, and they took off. Lutfi Kolgjini’s Lavec Kronos with Erik Adielsson in the bike opened quickly behind the gate but let Flemming Jensen and Local Conch to the front. At that time, Rapide Lebel was still three wide out and came up outside of Local Conch after 500 meters. Brioni and Sebastian K were positioned further down, but it was only Sebastian K that could put up a fight in the end. For a short while it seemed like he could challenge Rapide Lebel, but the impression was false and Eric Raffin's gelding won the first heat unchallenged.
In the second heat, the post positions where the opposite, which meant that Sebastian K had post one instead of eight. Kolgjini had the chance to defend the lead but let it go to Rapide Lebel. Raffin could then slow down the pace and with Local Conch trotting on the outside, the pace stayed low. On the homestretch, Kolgjini could choose to challenge Rapide Lebel on the outside or use one of the two open stretch lanes on the inside. He chose to attack on the outside, but with no use. Rapide Lebel sprinted from the rest of the field and made the Swedish elite look like extras.
Raffin expressed his happiness when he crossed the finishing line by waving his whip in the air, while Kolgjini throw away his whip in anger. Sebastian K did a good race, but the best horse won both heats, which also made a third heat unnecessary. Rapide Lebel won the heats at 1:52.2 and 1:55.0 as well as the total purse of $150,000.
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