V75®: Lulius Boko on a record chase
Eight consecutive wins to start his career.
His first loss came against Francesco Boko in the Swedish Trotting Derby.
This Saturday, Lulius Boko debuts in the gold division.
"I had a good feeling already before his last start. He should be better with that start in his legs" says trainer Timo Nurmos in the podcast 'V75® – lördag hela veckan'
With only ten lifetime starts, Lulius Boko will be the horse with the least experience to ever race in the gold division this Saturday. Compared to his opponents, Edibear is the second-least experienced horse with 30 lifetime starts, while Crack Atout, Mr Perfection, and Dats So Cool all have over 100 career starts each.
Despite that, Lulius Boko is the likely heavy favorite.
To reach the gold division in such few starts you have to be an extraordinary horse, which Lulius Boko has proven to be since the first time he stepped onto a racetrack.
Timo Nurmos chose a light and easy racing schedule for his part-owned super talent who only made three starts as a 3-year-old and he had never raced for a first prize higher than SEK 50,000 before he in August of 2022 as a 4-year-old was entered to the Derby eliminations.
He outclassed his opponents and came into the Derby final undefeated and as the given challenger to the king of the crop, Francesco Zet, who at the time had made almost SEK 10 million.
Lulius Boko had to see himself defeated by Francesco Zet and settle for second, which was worth SEK 2 million, but he had many lengths down to the horse who finished third, his opponent this Saturday – Edibear.
After that, it took over a year until he set foot on a racetrack again, in a qualifying race at Solvalla in November.
A month later, he was race ready and Lulius Boko had a tough task as he drew post eight behind the gate against experienced horses. After a trip off the pace, he closed incredibly fast and made up lots of ground on the winter specialist and recent gold division winner Phoenix Photo, but not enough to catch him.
"He was very good. He had a bad post and I talked to Björn (Goop) before the race and we decided to race him from off the pace. He finished the race with fresh legs and it was nice to see" says Timo Nurmos in the podcast 'V75® – lördag hela veckan'.
"Good training conditions all winter"
Nurmos is usually not racing his horses much in the winter, especially not his best horses. Last winter, the Nurmos stable only made 21 starts during the barefoot ban (December 1 - February 28) with less success than usual as they only won three races.
"I don't like racing much in the winter, the hard tracks are much tougher on the horses".
So, for Nurmos to race less in the winter is normal but he usually ups his already sky high winning percentage of 31 since 2020 and 32 during the winter months in the same period.
"Last winter the weather and the tracks were terrible which was the biggest reason why we didn't race much the first few months of the year. This winter, the conditions have been much better, so far. Both the uphill track and the training track have been good. We have a few horses who got started late, so if the training conditions and the tracks are good, we will give them a few starts" says Nurmos, who is happy about the cold weather.
How do you like the cold weather?
"I love it, it's very nice".
How does it work, training the horses in the cold weather?
"Very well, when you can go skiing, you can also train the horses. Of course, the horses are affected by the cold weather, but if it's not colder than -10, it's no problem. It works very well. But it can't get too cold, that makes it hard on the lungs" says Nurmos who brings up an issue that has surfaced now that it is very cold.
Dangerous when the weather is too cold
Svensk Travsport has posted an interview on its website with veterinarian Antti Rautalinko about the rule when to cancel the races when it gets too cold:
"Antti, how do the horses handle the extreme cold weather?
"A horse's airways are better made than a human being's. The length of the trachea and the area inside the nose give the horse better possibilities to warm up the air. Previous examinations have found that horses can manage temperatures down to -25 degrees Celsius, or even lower"
Is there a limit for how cold and it can get before the races are canceled?
"The practical limit is -25 degrees Celsius. But you can also take into consideration the wind and the humidity, but at such low temperatures, the humidity is normally not a problem".
That is a limit that according to Timo Nurmos should be stricter.
"-25 degrees is too cold, it should be -20. It also depends on the wind. If it's -20 here in the Stockholm area, then I think it's too cold. If you race or train your horses fast when it's extremely cold, those horses never come back the same. It's better to cancel the races and wait".
"You always have to think about what's best for the horse. That's why when we are out training, we can not bother the horse".
Do you train slower now when it is so cold?
"It's seldom too cold to train in the Stockholm area. But if it's very cold, you can't train too fast. You have to train differently. I come from the Northern parts of Finland and it used to be very cold. I have trained and tried a lot and it can not be too cold, then it's dangerous for the horses' lungs".
Blinkers and American sulky
There will not be any extreme cold when V75® goes south to Kalmar this Saturday. The forecast calls for temperatures above freezing.
Besides Lulius Boko, Nurmos also starts Mellby Jail, a 6-year-old who has only made seven lifetime starts, the last three after a long layoff. In his most recent start, he finished third as the favorite from the second tier in a V75 race at Solvalla on December 2. It looks better on paper this time and the horse will likely be heavily used on the V75 tickets again.
"Mellby Jail is a very nice and pleasant horse. He is big, the biggest horse we have in our stable. I have always liked him. He is lazy and never gets nervous in training or at the racetrack".
Have you measured him?`
"He is somewhere around 172 to 173 centimeters tall".
What do you think about his Saturday start?
"He's a good horse, I think he has done well. He gets better with each start and the training is starting to do more and more for him. He has not shown all he can do yet, he trots around and enjoys life a bit".
And what about Lulius Boko, what was the plan for him?
"The plan was to race him at the end of the summer, or early fall, but then he got sick so we had to wait. Once he was in good form, we were in the middle of the winter, but I still wanted to give him a couple of starts".
Have you been happy with him in training after his first start back?
"If not, I wouldn't have entered him. He should only get better with that start and he has trained as usual".
Do you have a good feeling going into the Saturday start?
"I had a good feeling already before his last start. And he feels good after that start, as I said, he could only get better".
Will he go to France after this?
"No plans of that, so far. We will see how the training conditions and the tracks are here in Sweden".
Are you making any changes to either of your starters?
"Perhaps, both will race in an American sulky. Lulius raced open in his first start back and he will get some kind of bridle change, either to blinkers or can't-see-backs. We don't know what the surface will be like, whether or not they need corks in their shoes".
You have had good training conditions and both horses will be improved off of their last starts, is that correctly interpreted?
"Yes, I think so. But I could be wrong" says Timo Nurmos.