V75®: Three chances for Sjöström
A win in every fourth start and SEK 2 million in earnings.
Claes Sjöström has kick-started 2023.
On Saturday, he has three chances to win during the high-class STL finals with V75® at Solvalla.
"I think he will be in the best possible shape" Claes says about this winter's exclamation mark Bugatti Hill.
This Saturday at Solvalla has all the possibilities of being the best race day in the country so far this year.
Beside the STL finals with the best horses of the winter and early spring on V75®, the race card is boosted by a race open for four-year-olds in the Margareta series. The two kings of the crop will square off against each other for the first time. Tetrick Wania who dominated as a two-year-old before he disappeared from the scene and last year's best three-year-old Bedazzled Sox.
But Claes Sjöström's four-year-old Bugatti Hall, is entered to a different race on Saturday.
He won at high odds in a lower class of the Margareta races at the beginning of February and he comes out in the Class 2 (V75-6) final this week after having won a leg from the 'hopeless' post 12. A surprisingly fast class climb after a pretty quiet three-year-old campaign.
"We were very optimistic going into that Margareta race and we thought he had developed nicely over the winter. After that, things have gone well too. He has kept getting better and better with every start" Claes says in the podcast 'V75 – lördag hela veckan' and adds:
"He has felt good all along, raced well, and improved with every start. I think he will be in the best possible shape. At least that's how it feels at home. These small changes we have made little by little have also been very effective. The last time out was the best I have ever felt him. The American sulky and barefoot upfront felt like the right match for him. He felt like he got a better bounce to his stride and got faster like that. Even if he got to sneak up along the pylons down the backstretch it was good of him to close like that and pass the entire field".
Is he ready for the best race of his life on Saturday?
"He feels just as good as he did before the start at Örebro so I think he's somewhere in that ballpark".
How fast can he leave the first 200 meters?
"It will be interesting to find out. He hasn't had a good post where I've been able to leave hard with him since he got this good these last five starts. I have a feeling that he can leave pretty fast, but it will interesting to find out on Saturday. With such a good post you are definitely interested in leaving for the best positions".
"Then you know it's not impossible"
Someone who definitely will not be in the mix for the lead is 15 Breeze who is the only one starting with a 40-meter handicap and with 14 mares to go around in V75-4. The exact same conditions as when she started at Bergsåker two starts ago when she flew by all of her opponents down the stretch.
In her last start, she had post position 12 behind the gate and couldn't do the same thing from fifth over in a race where they closed much faster.
"She felt very good in the race, but it was impossible from where we sat. I think she has felt like she's in good form since we started racing her this year and she keeps getting better and better with each start".
Could she be even better on Saturday?
"I think it's reasonable to believe she will be the same. It feels like she's staying in top form".
Can she handle going three-wide and still have that speed left at the end?
"It depends. The more meters she trots out three-wide, the smaller her chances to win become. The closer I can be to the inside, the bigger her chances are. But there's also the risk of traffic trouble then. I have to play it by ear a bit and take my chances".
Volt start means that she can not use the American sulky this time.
"That's a disadvantage, but not as much when nobody else can use it either. It won't have the double effect, it's just a disadvantage" says Claes who won't be surprised if she can repeat what she did at Bergsåker.
"I didn't think she could do it once, but when it's been done you know it's not impossible".
Wants to try him in the lead
Sjöström's third starter is the speedy Eddy West who drew post position five in the gold division final - C Th Ericsson Memorial - with SEK 500,000 to the winner.
"The post is very good. What's not as good is that Chapuy drew inside of us, it's not a lot of fun having him on the wrong side. He is very hard to pass, I don't think anyone can, at least not initially".
Are you interested in the lead?
"It would be nice to try him there some time, it was a while ago now. I'd rather be in the lead than on the outside. He raced in the lead at Örebro five starts ago, but then we got to set a low pace the first kilometer so it wasn't a true test of how he handles it at full speed. But it would be interesting to try again".
After having raced well every time during the winter, he raced flat in the last gold division final over the long distance at Bergsåker in February.
"I think it was due to three or four small things. The long trip up there, he often races better here at home. The track got a bit harder in the last few races that evening, it felt like it was a bit too hard for him. But it was almost as hard here at Solvalla in his most recent start, but then he felt much better. And also, the tempo was low and to be out there three-wide when they trotted faster the last kilometer wasn't easy either. It was a bunch of factors that made him not perform at his best that day".
The way he felt last time out, is he back now?
"I think it feels like he is. I had no complaints last time, he felt like he usually does".
Is Eddy a horse who is just good in the wintertime and now that the tracks are faster, he will take a step back?
"I think he races well all year around. He's a horse who likes having his set routines, so we keep racing him both winter and summer, but we give him a bit more time in between some starts. He can have a month or two in between, but no longer layoffs. He likes to race continuously and I think his results have been just as good in the summer as in the winter. What is important for him is the trip he gets. He doesn't like when things don’t go his way. We have also set him up for it many times and driven him a certain way. If he just gets his trip I think he will give us a good effort" says Claes Sjöström.