V75® (Sunday/dream jackpot): Widegren hopes to go out a winner

Eight V75® cards in nine days with a grand finale on New Year's Eve. V75 Winter Burst crosses the finish line as it ends with a dream jackpot with at least SEK 90 million to be paid out. 

The races are held at Axevalla and for Dan Widegren it could be an extra emotional afternoon. New Year's Eve is his last day as a trainer. 

"My plan was to retire when I turn 60. I will not have any horses left to train" says Dan Widegren in the podcast 'V75 – lördag hela veckan' where Per Skoglund and Peter Andersson are going through the V75 entries right after they come out. 

Dan Widegren is just like many others, born into the business. His father Emil was a professional trainer for decades and Dan has also dedicated his life to training and racing horses.

"I started in 1988. My dad had a stable and I took over once I got my trainer's license. I remember that we won a V65 final already in February with Prince Liberty, it was very nice to start like that" says Dan Widegren. 

One of Dan's biggest moments on the racetrack was when he won the Sprint Championship at his home track Halmstad in 1989 with Beijing Boy after a lightning fast finish. 

"Nobody, including myself, thought he would win. When we turned for home, I thought we would get a check. 150 meters from the finish line I thought we might be top three. 30 meters later, Gidde Palema broke stride and started pacing and ran out a bit toward us. I had never been able to move this horse sideways, but I had to move out and I just gave it my all and I thought "I can win this" and he managed to hold off Gold Goblin who closed fast outside of us". 

Fantastic in training

As of a few years, Dan Widegren runs a smaller stable and he will retire at the end of the year. He will quit cold turkey with what has been his passion his entire life. Gustav Johansson, who will get his trainer's license on January 1, is one of the big young talents in the country and he will take over the stable. 

"If I'm lucky Gustav will give me a job so I can still put food on the table" he says.

Dan Widegren can close out his career with a win with 6 Black Fire (V75-5), who won impressively in his last start at the beginning of December. 

"He was good before that, too. It was a bit cheaper race in a way. Gustav wanted me to change to a pull-down bridle, but I wanted to leave the cups on him and just take him off the gate and race him from behind. Then he didn't find a spot and was parked out and pulled hard the entire race and everything went wrong, but he was very good and still won easily":

"No problems whatsoever. We had an appointment with the veterinarian setup for him after that start and we did his knees, nothing major. We aimed at this race after that and I trained him on Christmas Eve and he felt fantastic, so we think he will be good again. He really wanted to go. He can be a bit tricky this horse, he goes when he wants to go, but he feels very good". 

"I don't think so. That might come next year. We did surgery on him last winter and he raced well without getting that win. All my horses got sick right around Kriteriet and it was a bit of a struggle for a while. But they have come back well".

"To be honest, I don't know. It's so hard to read this horse. Had he been a normal horse, I would have answered yes. He feels good, but he has trained badly just to race well and he has also felt great in training just to race badly. All signs point toward a good effort this time, though". 

"I don't know. He races just as well from behind, so it doesn't matter. Gustav said to me, four or five starts ago that we don't have to worry about him having to race in the lead, he races just as well from behind". 

"Black Fire feels great. It's a nice race for him and he fits the class well and his form is on its way up. When we drove home from Jägersro, we didn't know if he would race more this year but then Gustav called and said that he would race at Axevalla because he has a perfect race there. So, we have aimed at this ever since".