V75® (Tuesday): More Midtfjeld at Momarken
V75® Winter Burst moves on to Momarken, Norway.
Hometown trainer Per Oleg Midtfjeld has a good chance to win with the three-year-old Vallatonian.
The New Year's Eve multi-jackpot build-up goes on.
The third leg of V75® Winter Burst is being raced in Norway, at Momarken racetrack, not far from the Swedish border. One of the most famous trainers at the track is Per Oleg Midtfjeld, who trained the world-class trotter and the 2005 Elitlopp winner Steinlager. He has two starters from his own stable on the Tuesday V75 card.
Three-year-old 2 Vallatonian (V75-3) is a horse with a bright future ahead of himself. The horse has won two of his nine career starts so far and last time out he raced very well to finish second after a tough trip.
"Vallatonian is in good form and has raced well several times now. He was good last time out, we had to make an early move and he did some of the hard work himself and we lost against a very good horse" says Per Oleg Midtfjeld and adds:
"He has developed nicely after the summer and he feels better and better".
Vallatonian has shown good gate speed earlier and the fact that he drew a perfect post position two behind the gate makes it extra interesting this time.
"It feels like a wide-open race, and he is one of several horses who can win it. He can leave OK and if we could get to the front, he should have a good chance to win. That's plan A, but he doesn't need the lead to win. He always closes well so he could still win as long as the tempo is good".
Are you making any chances for this start?
"We might try with pullouts for the first time, but at the same time I don't know if that would make a big difference since he always does what he can".
Should be better with that start in his legs
We jump to the last leg of the card where Midtfjeld races 5 Giant Laser (V75-7).
A Danish-born four-year-old who earlier was trained by Flemming Jensen, and who now makes his second start for his new trainer. The gelding raced well last time out when he finished second after a three-month-long layoff.
"He has made one start for me and I also drove him in Denmark once, but that day he was no good. He was good last time out at Bjerke and he closed well. I think he should be better with that start in his legs, he has felt good after that start and should be a bit sharper this time and I don't think the distance is any problem. There are some good horses in the race, much tougher than in his last start so it might be tough to win, but we could be top three, or four with some racing luck".
Per Oleg Midtfjeld also has a few catch drives on the card.
Most interesting is the Swedish horse 1 Benzema (V75-6), trained by the Årjäng licensed amateur trainer Roger Persson. Benzema raced at Momarken two starts ago and won after a strong speed in the last turn.
"Benzema won a cheap race last time he was here but on the other hand, he won very easily. We have a good post but this is much tougher and it's a bit hard to belive that we would win it".
You have post one behind the gate, what can you do from there?
"I don't think he can hold up the lead, but he felt like a horse who likes a trip and to save the speed for the home stretch" says Per Oleg Midtfjeld.