V75®: Persson's time is now
Last Saturday, he won the gold division with Four Guys Dream.
Håkan K Persson takes aim at the winner's circle again.
"We have saved the horses so they can race this winter, and I think it looks interesting this Saturday again".
During December, January, and February, barefoot racing is prohibited at all racetracks in Sweden.
That is also the time of the year when Håkan K Persson is most successful.
A look at the statistics site travfakta.se tells us that the horses from the Håkan K Persson stable have won 13 percent of their starts and have finished top three in 39 percent during these winter months counting back to 2015.
The same results in the fall are 9 percent winners and 27 percent in the top three.
A significant difference that doesn't come as a surprise to the trainer himself.
"It's not that strange, I know our best results always come in the winter, so these last years I have purposely saved the horses a bit so they can race all winter, so it's by design too".
There is also an explanation as to why the stable's results are not as good in the months we now leave behind us.
"We tend to have sick horses in the fall, same thing this year. The first one to get sick was J.S.Camaro, when he stopped in the lead at Axevalla two starts ago (August 29) he was sick" says Håkan K Persson, who showed that his stable is back in good form when Four Guys Dream won Meadow Prophets Minne at Jägersro last Saturday.
"That was a lot of fun. We will try to keep him this good all winter. We are aiming for the finals at Solvalla, on December 26, but he will probably race at Åby in two weeks. It all depends on how he comes out of his last start".
"More bounce to his stride"
The just mentioned J.S.Camaro, who starts in V75-2, is the reason why Persson makes the trip to Solvalla already this Saturday. He was good in his return, after not having raced for two months when he won after a 1:10-speed the last 800 meters.
"My horse was really good, better than I had even hoped. I had felt in training that he was good. After he was sick, he had more bounce to stride than he had before. Since I hadn't trained any faster heats at the track, I expected him to need that first start back and be better for the next start. I still hope he will be, that's why I want to race him on V75 now before he is out of that class".
But the barefoot ban means that J.S.Camaro has to race with shoes behind this time.
"It's a disadvantage, of course, but I'm pretty optimistic anyway. I have always liked this horse and thought he would have made more money by now. He seems to be coming along nicely now and I think he has enough class to do well on V75. I have only trained him once after his last start and he won't train very hard since there's not a lot of time in between starts. I count on him getting better off of that last start. He drew a good post position and he can leave fast, so getting the lead is not out of the question. But it's not a given tactic since he races well with any sort of trip".
Are you making any other changes, besides the shoeing?
"No. He has raced with an open-eye blind and a Murphy blind on the outside in his last two starts and that made him travel straighter as we hoped. His earplugs were still in his ears and that's normally a good extra gear for him".
Sharped up in training Monday
The second starter from the Persson stable, Brady D.E. (V75-7) also has a start in his legs after a layoff and he rallied to finish third after a wide trip.
"He had to trot three wide in three turns and raced well considering the trip. He's a big and heavy horse who definitely needed that start and will be improved. He might need another start before he's back in top form. The plan wasn't to race him on V75 already now, but when I decided to enter Camaro, I threw him in there too" says Persson about the German-born horse who came to his stable a year ago and won two in a row impressively last winter.
"He benefits from racing this time of the year since he always races with shoes. The layoff was due to him being sick with Lyme disease which was also why he raced poorly in his last start of the summer. He was only medicated for five days, but we gave him plenty of time to recover since we had planned to race him in the winter. I trained him just now and he felt fantastic".
Was it just regular training or did you sharpen him up for the V75 start?
"I actually trained him a little tougher than usual, to try to get him back into shape. I can't remember having trained him like that before, so hopefully it will have a positive effect".
What do you think of his chances?`
"It's a tough race with good horses. On the other hand, he starts from a much better post than he has done in a long time".
Does that mean he could have a chance of getting the lead (where he is undefeated in three starts in Sweden)?
"I don't think he is fast enough to get there on his own, but if he could get there, I'd like to see him raced in the lead".
Are you making any equipment changes?
"Yes, we will change the bridle on him. He has raced with a can't-see-back pull-down bridle and has shown that he responds well to that. We are changing to pull-down blinds of some sort this time to get an even better effect".
The weather forecast calls for really cold weather at Solvalla on Saturday. That would mean corks in the shoes behind.
"Even if Brady has never raced with corks, I don't see him having any trouble with that. He already raced with extra grip in his hind shoes. But I think it would be a disadvantage for J.S.Camaro".
Which horse do you think has the best chance of winning?
"That would be J.S.Camaro as long as the track is good for him" says Håkan K Persson.