V75: The hometown trainer is ready for Saturday
V75 comes to Boden Racetrack. That means that Sandra Eriksson is ready.
The hometown trainer has four starters and she seems to have good chances of entering the winner's circle.
After last week's Swedish Championships at Åby, V75 travels north this Saturday.
All the way up to Sweden's northernmost racetrack. Boden Racetrack is the host of the first V75 card in the month of October which, of course, is something that the hometown trainer Sandra Eriksson has looked forward to. She starts four of the stable's horses on V75.
"You obviously want to start as many as you can. We have aimed at this, I would have liked to race a few more horses, but we got a bunch in, at least. When V75 comes to your home track, you want to race any horses that are good enough for their classes, but they have to be in top form to have a chance on V75" says Sandra Eriksson in the podcast V75 - lördag hela veckan.
The first horse to hit the track is 1 King Of Djazz (V75-1), already in the inaugural bronze division.
The 5-year-old was formerly trained at Sweden's southernmost racetrack Jägersro by Joakim Lövgren, but as of June, he can be found in the northern parts of Sweden. He has made three starts for Eriksson, which has resulted in one victory. He now drew a very attractive post position behind the gate.
"I am pleased with the starts he has made up here. Now, we will try the American sulky on him, and all four shoes are also coming off again; I thought he felt very good barefoot when he last raced like that and we drew well. He will most likely need some help with the trip, but it will still be interesting".
Can you take advantage of the inside post?
"Well, I would really like to race him in the lead, I don't think he's been raced there very much, and the Zola Boko-offsprings seem to like that. If I would be able to hold them out, that would be fantastic, but at the same time I have a hard time seeing that happening":
On a scale from one to ten, what type of effort do you expect from him on Saturday?
"The effort I hope he will come up with is a nine on that scale, I would say. But we have had a lot of bad luck lately and that makes you a bit careful, but I still think he will race very well".
Interesting shoeing changes
Sandra was lucky in the draw, overall. 1 Nite Owl (V75-2) also drew post one behind the gate in the Class 2 leg. We are getting reports of some interesting changes for this start.
"Post position one at Boden is not great, but I am still happy with it now that it's V75, I wouldn't call it a bad post. I will also try to pull all four shoes on him which will make him quicker. He has raced with heavy shoes so it will be a pretty major change for him, both that, and the American sulky. I don't know if he can hold them out, but we will give it our best; he can leave pretty fast if he gets the right momentum behind the gate".
How is the form on your 4-year-old?
"He made a break last time out, he could have used that start as a tightener and get some speed back in his legs. We have gotten a lot of rain up here, and the training tracks have been deep and heavy. I couldn't train him quite as fast as I would have liked to get him quicker, but he should benefit from his last start. I have a feeling that the shoeing change will have a good effect on him, he has been pacey and he has a big gait so he has needed quite a bit of weight up until now, but now he has learned to handle that".
Devils Tongue drew a dream post
The horse who might feel like the hottest chance to win from the Sandra Eriksson stable is 3 Devils Tongue (V75-5) who defends the home track’s colors in the second highest STL class. But, in his last start, he lost as the big favorite at Skellefteå.
"We had this start in mind with him already before his last start and now he will race barefoot all around, in the American sulky, and he will get his can't-see-back bridle back on, maybe with a Murphy blind on the inside too. I just want to close him in a bit" says Sandra.
How is his form coming into this start?
"I would say his form is pretty good. He managed to lose his most recent start, but actually, after his last V75 start at Bergsåker he hurt himself a bit when he took a shoe off and had to be on stall rest for a couple of days. He missed two training days in between those starts and he gets like that then. He needs some sharper training and it's important for him to train continuously. He has gotten that now".
So, it feels like a pretty good race for Devils Tongue?
"He drew a dream post here and his toughest opponents drew a bit worse, which is good for us. We just need to have a good day on Saturday and that the horse races well".
Finally, you also have 11 Maesteraemon (V75-6) in the gold division?
"He has been a bit flat in his last two starts, but we don't really know why. At home he feels more energetic now, he's playful and runs figure-eights around you when you walk him in from the field. As far as that goes, everything seems well, but maybe he could have used post one in here. He hasn't raced for over a month, so this start will be a tightener for him, then we will try to find some other races for him up around here".