V75® (Wednesday): A Christmas Card from Örebro racetrack
On Wednesday evening, Örebro racetrack hosts a full V75® card.
The home track for Mårten Eriksson - the tracks' warm-up expert and the trot racing writer of the local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda.
"I talked to the Solvalla trainer Claes Sjöström a few days before Christmas and he strengthened my beliefs about who the best horse is to single on V75".
As a little boy, Mårten used to go with his dad to the races at Örebro racetrack where he sometimes got to ride in the starting gate and eat hot dogs.
When his mom worked the night shift at the hospital, the little boy got to go to the evening races and get a first glance into the world of trot races. One thing led to another and after a few years, Mårten was distributing the result sheets at the racetrack.
"I learned early about all the people and the horses. It came naturally since my dad was the starter at Örebro racetrack" says Mårten Eriksson.
He became interested in horses and in betting on them and then one day Travronden reached out. Ola Lernå in the editorial staff had been recommended to take a shot with that Eriksson guy.
"That was somewhere in my 30s when I worked as a resource for special needs children at a school. Lernå and the others gave me Lindesberg, Sundbyhom, and Örebro to oversee and as of many years now, I work full time with the trot races" says Mårten Eriksson.
Used to be a football trainer
The Örebro born and raised racing lover trained the football team Nora BK for five years when they climbed the system. In 2017 he quit that job, to go all in as a handicapper.
"The managing director in Nora BK was Peter Palmqvist who I want to reach out to when I now get the chance" says Mårten Eriksson.
Eriksson is a consultant with his own business who travels to different racetracks. At both Örebro and Sundbyholm, he is the warm up specialist on every race day. Besides writing in Nerikes Allehanda, he also works extra as a handicapper for a couple of other handicapping sites.
This Wednesday evening, he works as the warm up specialist at the track he knows so well.
Örebro's races on Wednesday evening will be one of V75 Winter Burst's last stops before New Year's Eve's multi-jackpot card at Axevalla closes out 2022.
Racing around Christmas is pretty unusual in Örebro. Over the years we have had some season finales before Christmas but nothing more than that. The biggest race day of the year at Örebro is the V75 day at the beginning of May, so this V75 card around Christmas is something different for us. I think the card looks fun and has betting potential, with many horses that might be unknown for most of the betting public, for example, Norwegian horses versus Swedish horses" says Mårten.
We have to ask you for your best horses to single on this V75 card. What are your picks?
"I am pretty certain that the best one comes right away in the first leg and that is 1 Eddy West (V75-1). I talked to Claes Sjöström a few days before Christmas and he told me that he had worked a lot with the horse to get him to calm down and he said it has worked out well. I asked Claes if he would leave and race the horse in the lead. He has mostly raced him behind horses. Claes said he thought the horse is ready for that now and that he should have a pretty good chance of holding up the lead from the inside post. He also said that the horse is good enough to go first up if he wouldn't hold up the inside. I got a good feeling when I saw the draw and Claes strengthened my beliefs that Eddy West is a good choice to single".
And do you have a single choice that is not going to be a favorite?
"3 Marion Mark (V75-5) is a horse that I think is a bit underrated despite what he has shown. So he could be a fun horse to single. I really like this horse who raced great at Åby in October when he finished second behind Johan Untersteiner's Smile Silvio, who beat him in the passing lane. Marion Mark then raced in the lead and Wim Paal came up and put a lot of pressure on him, so he raced great that day".
Marion Mark has raced well after that with three wins in his last five starts...
"Exactly. The interesting thing is that I think he is faster out of the gate than 2 Domenik Jet, the likely favorite. I think Björn Goop can get to the lead and the short distance could be an advantage".
The best chance of the home team?
"9 Chapuy (V75-1) would be wrong to name since I just named another horse in that race (1 Eddy West). Lindblom's horse is hurting a little bit by starting in the second tier and I also think that racing with shoes does not benefit him. So the best chance of the home team should be 1 Max Håleryd (V75-7). Juhani Partanen's horse got too hot last time out and it looks interesting here from post one. Björn Goop has driven the horse six times and has won three races with him. The inside post at Örebro is not as bad as most people think. The distances in Örebro changed back in 2008 to even out the disadvantage with the inside post (the start used to come right out of the turn). But that old saying still goes on. I want to kill the myth about the bad inside post at Örebro" says Mårten Eriksson.
Footnote: Post time for the first V75 leg in Örebro on Wednesday is 19:30.