V86®: After the issues —his career can now take off
The Solvalla trainer, Pasi Aikio, had to skip the 4-year-old season with Forever Yours.
The horse was treated for asthma and is coming strongly now as a 5-year-old.
The stud horse is coming into the Wednesday V86® with two straight wins.
"He has enough speed and talent to win and his strength should come in handy also on the sprint distance."
Solvalla and Bjerke co-host the Wednesday card, and at the Swedish capital track, there are two legs of the Solvallaserien in V86®.
V86-2 is the lower class, in which Stall Travkompaniet's Forever Yours will be one of the favorites. The horse developed asthma as he was getting ready for his 3-year-old campaign, and trainer Aikio believes in a strong season as a 5-year-old instead.
Forever Yours was early described as a big, heavy horse by his trainer. It was clear that the son of Maharajah would not be an early horse.
But nobody could have imagined that he would be five years old before he could start to show what he was made of.
"Everything was fine with him early on as a 3-year-old, and he showed a lot of potential. When summer came, his heart rate would be elevated at times, and he didn't recover well after training. We found out that he was suffering from asthma," says the Solvalla trainer.
The horse was put on medication and started living outside at Ekerö. After over a year and a half, he was ready to return to racing again, and in his first start back in December, he finished fifth.
The caretaker, Jennie Ek, has driven the horse to two straight wins in apprentice races lately.
"Jennie has been pleased with him. These last two starts were nice races for him. He won without having to go all out, and it was great that he could get these two nice races. After the last two starts, we haven't pushed him hard in training going into this start. But I don't think his form has declined. I have a good feeling."
Name as a theme
Forever Yours, born in 2020, was named by breeder Margareta Wallenius-Kleberg, who liked naming her horses on the same theme as their mothers.
The dame of Forever Yours, Sincerely Yours, has another offspring racing on Wednesday. Ever Loving, an older brother to Forever Yours, also starts in Solvallaserien (V86-8). He is trained by Andreas Lövdal.
V86-2 is a leg of the Solvallaserien's lower class. Pasi Aikio is happy with post position four behind the gate.
"The post position gives us options. When the car takes off, I will decide how to drive. He can leave pretty well, so we will see where we end up. Then I will drive accordingly," he says.
How has Forever Yours changed since he was three years old, after that long layoff?
"He showed a lot of potential early but was just big and heavy then. He is much stronger now, not as heavy as he was. He was heavy set when he started racing. Now, his body type is more average."
How have you trained him going into this start?
"Now, he's a ready racehorse, so, we just have to keep him good. I think we have made a lot of progress with him, already. But every start he makes will make him better. He has enough speed and talent to win a race like this. His strength should also come in handy on the sprint distance; if the pace is high, they have to be able to maintain the speed. I think 1,640 meters will be good for him."
How does the spring season look for him?
"We like the Solvallaserien. We also have V75® to aim at. He's in a good class now and should have enough points to make it to V75. We have started to look at those races too."