The oval at Vero Beach in Florida is where tomorrow’s trotting stars are trained. As regards both size and number of horses, Palema Trotting is growing. “We have had to build more boxes to provide accommodation,” comments the camp’s manager, Ulf Amundson, who was born in the Dalsland region of Sweden.
Palema Trotting is a first-class training facility with a 1,000-metre oval, two 900-metre straights (with different surfaces), 20 paddocks and an underwater treadmill. Since starting in 2010, the number of horses has increased every year. Hence the need to add more stalls. With some hundred harness horses, this year is a record.
Star trainer at the camp
The training camp’s staff includes two American and two Swedish trainers. One of the latter is star driver Åke Svanstedt. He fills most of the boxes and is a part owner of the camp. Trainer Staffan Lind, who is also Swedish, lives at the camp along with his family. He too takes part in the training operations. For some years now, the majority of Benders’ USA-based horses have been trained at Lind Racing. Training is from the end of October to the end of April. This is when the competition season for young horses starts further north.
“Amongst USA harness horse trainers, it’s a well-established tradition to be active in Florida during the winter. The climate here is reliable and very comfortable,” comments Ulf.
Major successes
It has already been noticed that many of the horses who train, or have been trained, at Palema Trotting have achieved great successes. Sebastian K, a world record holder, is trained by Åke Svanstedt. Similarly, the 2012 and 2014 winners of the Peter Haughton Memorial (the leading race for two-year-old stallions) were trained here. The two-year-old mare with the most wins in 2014 was trained by an American at the camp. Also at the camp is Billy Flynn, a two-year-old stallion owned by Benders. The horse has won eight of his eleven starts and is trained by Staffan Lind.
“We are very excited about the future. We have already produced many really good horses at Palema Trotting and are in line for a truly busy season with a lot happening. We are also aware that our good reputation has spread amongst all sorts of horse people in Florida. Both for its training facilities and its accommodation, our camp has received a lot of praise,” concludes Ulf.
