Saturday, May 16th

Today marked the 3rd day of competition and Jason had a great day!  We traveled to Jarlsburg Racetrack.  This track is the home track of Ulf Thoresen, a very well known and successful driver from Norway.  Thoresen won the World Cup 4 times and has also won the Hambletonian before. 

It was an hour and half bus ride to the track and once we arrived we were brought to the Ulf Thoresen Room.  They gave us a quick briefing about and him and showed us a display of all the trophies Ulf won over the years.  He donated them to track 6 months before he passed away.

It was then over to the stable area where Jason and I walked around to talk to the trainers of the horses he was driving.  A couple of trainers were very positive about their horses’ chances in the race.  I then headed over the grandstand to get some pictures of the Opening Ceremonies, also known as the Presentation of Drivers.  Today, they were also brought in front of the crowd in a horse drawn wagon.

Race 2 was the first race of the competition.  Jason was picked as a favorite and as it turned out he landed on top.  He picked up 16 big points for Team USA.  In a normal race of 10 he would have gotten 17, but there was one scratch.  On to the next race, this was a race for the Coldbloods.  Word around the stable, was that his Coldblood wasn’t very fast.  But with a little bit of racing luck Jason pulled off a 2nd place finish.  He was actually leading halfway down the stretch, but she got a little tired.  Jason just hung on to her to make sure she trotted across the wire.  In the last two races he was only able to pick up 6 points combined.

Today he picked up 32 points, for a total of 74 points thru 3 days of competition.  This ranks him 5th in the standings.  Peter Ferguson of New Zealand is still the leader with 98 points. 

We are now headed back to the hotel, where we have to attend a banquet for the World Trotting Conference.  There will be a small presentation of the drivers to everyone that is attending.  Tomorrow there is no racing because it is Constitution Day.  We planning to attend the children’s parade right close by to our hotel in Oslo and also go a Thoroughbred track.  Over here they are called the gallop races. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the diary entries.  I try to get one posted every day, but as you noticed I had trouble getting connected to the internet in our new hotel.  We are very much looking forward to an easy day Sunday.  We’ve done a lot of traveling and are very tired.  The time change of 6hrs ahead isn’t helping either. 

Jason and I would like to give a special hello, hug, and kiss to Kobe.  We miss him very much and can’t wait to see him in 5 days.  We know that he is in good hands though.  I’m sure that the Bryant & Bartlett Families are keeping him very busy.  WE LOVE YOU TOO MUCH BUDDY!!! XOXOXOXOXO GO USA!!!!