V75® (Wednesday): Will Zarenne Fas take his first victory in Sweden?
He has won in Italy, Germany and Norway.
On Wednesday Zarenne Fas will make his tenth attempt to win a race also in Sweden when several of the best five year olds around will square off in Jubileumspokalen at Solvalla with SEK 1 million to the winner.
Early July last year as a four year old, the Italian horse Zarenne Fas arrived to Sweden and to trainer Jerry Riordan in Halmstad. He started off with four straight top three finishes before he won two bigger races, Grosser Preis von Deutchland in Hamburg, Germany and Axel Jensen Memorial at Bjerke in Oslo, Norway.
As a five year old came out strong and after finishing second in Prins Carl Philips Jubileumspokal at Färjestad, Jerry Riordan announced that the aim was set at Elitloppet. But he never received an invitation after finishing fifth in the race Vägen till Elitloppet (The Road to Elitloppet) at Gävle in 1:10.1.
Instead he got his victory on the Oslo Grand Prix day at Bjerke, in a sprint race open for European four and five year olds which Zarenne Fas won in 1:09.8.
Zarenne Fas (V75-6) who has won in nine out of 39 starts and made SEK 4.8 million, has won in Italy, germany and Norway but he is still winless on Swedish soil after nine tries, something that Jerry Riordan hopes to change when they make the trip up to Solvalla on Wednesday:
"He's had a hard time during the year with bad post positions against good horses, on Wednesday we have the toughest opponents on our outside already from the start which feels good for us. He loves the lead and he is twice as good in the lead so we will be leaving" says Jerry Riordan who tells us his horse is in top form:
"I would say that he feels better now than what he did leading up to the Elitlopp, he is sharper and could without a doubt end up in the win photo on Wednesday".
"Good enough to win the race"
Besides Jubileumspokalen - the Wednesday feature - there are several other international races, one of them is the European Championship for mares, a race which this year has attracted horses from all our Nordic neighbors. Jerry Riordan sends out Tessy d'Ete (V75-3), a mare who will make her fifth start for her new trainer.
"This is a very nice mare who has raced in France earier and came to my barn in the beginning of the year and with time we've gotten to know her as an individual and we're still getting to know her as a race horse" says Jerry who seems pleased with his mare so far:
"She won right away in her first start at Örebro and she also won two starts ago at Bjerke. She needs a high pace to be able to race from behind. In her last start at Axevalla there wasn't much pace at all which meant we were out of it early but she still raced OK".
Tessy d'Ete has drawn post position three behind the gate this time.
Is it a good opportunity to try her in the lead?
"Last time she had a post position in the first tier she started from pretty far out and and ended up parked outside Double Exposure which isn't the easiest position and already after 400 meters we sort of knew there was no point in racing her for the win. She has a better post position now and we think she can leave pretty well. If she does, I would be very interested in racing her in the lead".
"I won't say that she's the best mare in Europe but she is good enough to win the race".
You have two more starters on V75. What are your thoughts on them?
"Brilliant Smile (V75-4) is decent out of the gate and has a good post position this time. We will leave for position but we won't get involved in any crazy duel, we'd rather let one of the good ones go and tag along for a good check".
"Armour As (V75-6) drew the worst possible post position. We had hoped for a short field, but even with the horses entered it feels like a mission impossible and we have to hope for an over paced race and good cover and to get a nice check".