V75® (jackpot): Full speed ahead for Lindblom
V75® at Örebro.
That means Åke Lindblom is ready.
"I will leave all that I can. The plan is to lead from start to finish with both of them," says the hometown favorite about his two fast-leaving starters.
V75® comes to Örebro this Saturday, where the gold division is named after the racetrack's biggest star of all time; Express Gaxe.
The horse won The King's Trophy and The Swedish Trotting Derby, which led to him being voted Horse Of The Year in Sweden in 1977. He kept on racing successfully as an older horse. Besides several wins in big races, he finished second in the Roosevelt International Trot in New York and defeated the French phantom Ideal du Gazeau. In 2013, the horse that was bred, trained, and driven throughout his career by the amateur Gunnar Axelryd, was inducted into the Swedish Hall of Fame.
In recent years, many of the best horses from Örebro have come out of one big stable; the Åke Lindblom stable.
Confess Arnie, Lugdunum, Winning Love, I Saw You and Saveur are all horses that made over SEK 1 million and became well-known Saturday horses.
The latter now stands stud and has his former trainer's trust in the breeding shed as well.
"I have a 3-year-old by him, M.T. Tapdancer, he was good when he won his last start and is coming along nicely now. But he doesn't resemble his father much. But the three 2-year-olds that I have do, they are all very nice gaited. Then we will see if they have the same great attitude, but as of now it looks exciting," says Lindblom whose current stars are Power Doc, and above all, 2 Chapuy (V75-3).
The latter is one of the country's fastest horses out of the gate, known to go to the front and not let anyone pass him.
A quality that has led to ten V75 victories, all from the lead.
One of them was when they won Express Gaxe's race last year, the first horse from the home track to win the race since it got its current status as a gold division race over the middle distance in 2011.
"That was a lot of fun, he felt fantastic that day," says Åke Lindblom, whose horse raced brilliantly in the early part of last year with three wins and two second places in the gold division, which led the way to what was Chapuy's best year as a 9-year-old with SEK 800,000 in earnings.
"I hope he has another year like that left in him. It feels like it in training," says Lindblom whose quick leaver has not had the same luck this winter, with a sixth place and an eighth place finish in two starts in the gold division.
"He hasn't been bad; we have just had some bad luck. At Mantorp, we started from a hopeless post position with quick horses like Dark Roadster and others inside of us, so I took him off the gate and raced him from behind and he finished in hand. In the next start, he started from the second tier and got a trip along the pylons. I have been a bit passive, but I won't be on Saturday. This time it's full speed ahead," says Lindblom who had planned on racing his horse more in V75, but had to settle for a regular overnight at his home track Örebro instead.
"I have entered him several times to the gold division, but he hasn't gotten in. Then I had to race him in a regular race last time out instead".
First win from behind in five years
The horses he beat were not the same as he is used to facing, but Chapuy did something he had not done since 2019; he won from a different position than the lead. An effort that made Lindblom so happy, he even put his arm in the air as he crossed the finish line.
"Yes, I did, because I was so pleased with my horse. Even if it was a cheap race, I got the answer I wanted from him, he finished at full speed and felt great".
How far from his form from this race last year is he right now?
"He is very close to that. He doesn't get trained very hard; he jogs in the forest in between starts. But he feels great, I think he will race very well on Saturday”.
For a horse who has 19 of his 21 career wins from the lead, the post position draw is very important. From post two he has every possibility to reach his favorite position, even if another catapult starter, Dark Roadster – who has gotten to the lead 10 times out of 11 from post five – will challenge him.
Chapuy has gotten to the lead 4 out of 5 times from post two.
"I guess we will see who is the fastest. I will leave all that I can. Now that he is in the first tier, he will race with a blind bridle and I plan to lead the race from start to finish".
Last year, this race was raced in March, when the barefoot ban was lifted and Chapuy could race barefoot all around. But the fact that the race is earlier this year is not necessarily a bad thing for the 10-year-old who has not lost with shoes from the lead since 2018.
"Of course, he trots faster without shoes, almost all horses do. But, compared to his opponents, I don't think he has a disadvantage racing with shoes, quite the opposite. He is very quick out of the gate with shoes, too," says Åke Lindblom.
"Great chance to win"
While the other poster boy of the stable, Power Doc, is winter training and getting prepared to race in March, Lindblom thinks he has a coming star in 5 Nail'em (V75-7), who comes off a second place finish as the big favorite. That was his first career loss from the lead.
"He's a very special horse and last time out, he was pulling a lot in the warm up. That made me race him without the blind bridle, and I also added an earhood. In the race, he was more relaxed, but it was a very fast finish. He trotted 1:10 speed the last 700 meters and that's as fast as he could go on that surface, so considering all that, I don't think he raced badly".
How big is the risk of him acting the same way on Saturday?
"It depends on what mood he's in, but I don't worry too much. In training after that start, he has been nice and relaxed, so if he acts normal, I will go back to his normal equipment, he's better like that. I have a feeling that his form is there and it's a horse I think highly of going forward, he could be just as good as Chapuy and Power Doc".
What makes you say that?
"Most of all his gait, he covers so much ground. If we can control his temper, he will go very far".
Your horse is new in the bronze division and he's in tough, looking at the earnings on Saturday. How do you think he will do?
"I think he has a great chance to win. In my eyes, his chances are just as good as Chapuy's. He has enough talent and even if he's a horse who benefits a lot from racing barefoot, I think he is good enough for the race on Saturday. We will leave as fast as we can and if we get to the lead, I will race him there." says Åke Lindblom.