Three aces on hand.
Hometown trainer Fransisco Castro has three horses in the 2018 Swedish Derby. Three horses who all has a chance to win.
"I'm really looking forward to Sunday with great expectations. The preparations have gone according to plan. So it looks very exciting" says the Jägersro trainer.
Let's get right to it. Castro's three chances to win the 2018 Swedish Derby (GS75®-4) at Jägersro:
Shake The Disease who won Voterlöpning - and as the avid fan knows, the horse who wins the Voter usually does well also in the Swedish Derby. Couples who after a heroic effort finished second in the Voter after a very tough beginning and Sea Lieutenant who's coming to the Derby with three wins in a row, all over the long distance and the latest win was in the Derby trial.
"My analysis is that Sea Lieutenant is the only horse who has won three long distance races and has beaten many good horses. I say he's the horse to beat in this field, especially since half of the the horses in this field never raced longer than 1,730 meters" says Fransisco Castro.
When it comes to the thoroughbreds a couple hundred meters extra could be extremely determining and what Fransisco Castro points out is how that's an unknown factor for many of the horses in this field.
Couples - the biggest threat
Francisco Castro has a lot of faith in his horses. He has won the Swedish Derby once before, in 2010 with Moe Green and he's hoping to add another victory to that.
"It takes a tough horse to win, this track is very demanding".
Threats?
"I'm not really afraid of Barade. He won a Listed race back in March before most of the good horses were racing. If someone with good merits would upset it would be Couples. He raced a tough race against good horses. He lost to Shake The Disease after the first quarter in 22.9 and the second quarter in 24.5 - and it wasn't a sprint race. Still he didn't get beat until just before the finish line. I think Shake The Disease will do fine over 2,400 meters, he was the only horse coming from behind beating Couples. So for me, due to the distance, Sea Lieutenant is the horse to beat. One of the 1,730 horses can surprise - we've seen that happen before".
"Has won two Derbys for me"
Finally a few words about the choice of jockeys. Martin Rodriguez on Sea Lieutenant and Maikel Narvaez Bravo on Couples were both expected choices. But then, Castro is flying in Manuel Martinez, 37, from Chile to ride Shake The Disease. Martinez has ridden in Sweden before (he's won two Swedish Derbys for Fredrik Reuterskiöld) but he's now based in Chile.
"He has won two Derbys in Denmark for me and he's a very good jockey who knows this track well so that's a plus. He's also very determined which is another advantage".
Right before 16:00 on Sunday, with plenty of time before the World Cup fotball final, we will know if Fransisco Castro for the second time will be the victor of the Swedish Derby. He does have three good opportunities to take home the first price of SEK 1,5 million.