V75® (Saturday): Untersteiner's Christmas gift
V75® the night before Christmas Eve.
Johan Untersteiner hopes he can deliver a Christmas gift to the bettors.
"One of my horses is in very good shape. I have a good feeling" says Untersteiner, who sends his dad to take care of the driving duties at Mantorp.
He runs the biggest stable in the country and is closing in on SEK 33 million in earnings in 2023.
That is almost twice as much as Johan Untersteiner's horses earned in his breakthrough year 2017 when he was voted 'Trainer of the Year' in Sweden.
A title he still misses is leading trainer, which goes to the trainer whose horses earn the most money during the year.
The winner of that title the last three years, Daniel Redén is the current leader in the standings with two weeks left of the year. Johan Untersteiner is second, with little more than SEK 500,000 to make up.
That means they could be tied by Christmas Eve.
Untersteiner has five starters in V75® at Mantorp on the 23rd and would all of them win, they would make over SEK 600,000.
But to win five V75 races is very tough and it does not get easier when you have bad luck in the draw.
"Heart Of Steel drew post three, the others got 11, 12, 12, and 12" says Untersteiner in the podcast 'V75 - lördag hela veckan' where Per Skoglund and Peter Andersson go over the entries for V75 when they come out on Sunday evening.
"Tough enough to go around them"
But that does not mean that he has given up and he sounds particularly positive about 11 Winner Brodde in V75-1.
"You can just look at his past performances to see that Winner Brodde is in really good form. He is in a race that isn't the toughest bronze division, I think. I have a good feeling" says Johan Untersteiner about the 4-year-old who finished outside the money from a tough post position in the Breeders Crown final at the end of November, but came back to win easily from the lead in his last start and he seems to have found an extra gear at the end of the season.
"I don't have a good explanation to why. He has always raced well, but has looked a bit questionable when he has raced against tougher horses. He has looked good in cheaper races, but hasn't really tried his best in tougher races. But I think he has done much better lately, also in the semi final, but especially in the final of Breeders Crown even if he didn't make any money, but he looked very good there. And last time out, I laid flat back behind him from start to finish".
From post position 11, the tactic will be different, but it does not seem to scare the trainer.
"It's almost the best post position we have on Saturday. But he is tough enough to go around them too, I think" says Johan Untersteiner, who stays home with his family and sends his father Peter to drive at Mantorp.
"I lost it when I saw the post time was at 18:10 so I told him he could go since he was just suspended for ten days. Then he found a couple more horses to enter. But Winter Brodde was the horse that I felt would be our best chance before we entered".
"Top three how good he has ever felt in a race"
Another horse in good form is 12 Safira Diablo (V75-2) who has raced first up in her last three starts, which have resulted in two wins and a second place. In this apprentice race, Wilma Karlsson gets the chance behind the 4-year-old mare.
"Safira Diablo is in very good form, but post 12 makes it tougher. 2,640 meters isn't necessarily negative so in an apprentice race/mare race I think she should be considered early despite the bad post position. I have a good feeling that she will race well".
The good old open trotter 3 Heart Of Steel (V75-3) keeps chugging along in the gold division and he was climbing over horses as he finished third at Jägersro at the end of November. In his most recent start, he made a break into the first turn.
"I have no good answer to why. I just thought he chickened out, I don't know why. He was great at Jägersro. Dad said that was top three how he has ever felt in a race. He felt great after the break in his last start too and everything was normal in training so we have to try again".
12 Game Brodde (V75-6) comes from a fifth place in a slow-paced race where they got to the kilometer in 1:16.7 and then trotted home at 1:10 speed.
"Everything went wrong there; I think he was excused, we just have to forget that start. Now, he drew post 12 and it will be tough to get into the race. We have to hope for a high pace, then he will pass many down the stretch".
The last starter is 12 Global Enjoy (V75-7) who is still winless after 17 starts.
"I think he has raced well in tough races, he is only three years old. He finished third in the E3 revenge in his last start and raced well, but from this post position we have to rely on luck" says Johan Untersteiner, who seems more comfortable being the Santa Claus at his job than in the private life, but he might need to learn to do that if he wants a nice and quiet Christmas at home.
"I haven't been Santa Claus. We have had some neighbors or friends doing that. I have dodged that bullet. Last year I think it was Arnqvist (Peter) who put the Santa mask upside down. He had no glasses so he said he couldn't see, it was just a big mess".