V86®: An unusually strong horse
Matiere had surgery in a hoof last year and missed his entire 4-year-old campaign.
Now as a 5-year-old, the gelding has stepped up and he made a name for himself in his last start when he beat his opponents after a first over trip in a V75® race.
"It's too early to say how good of a horse he is, but this is an unusually strong horse," says trainer Fredrik B Larsson.
After three starts in his first season as a 3-year-old, the racing was put on hold for Matiere.
The horse was ready to race in the spring when he suffered a fracture in a front hoof.
It took the horse 15 months before he could return to the racetrack, in March this year.
The Solvalla trainer Fredrik B Larsson's trainee is certainly an extraordinary horse. The strength is there, which he showed in his most recent start when he won on V75 and defeated the favorite In Love Mearas, after a first over trip.
Maybe another gold division horse is in the making from the stable at Erikssund, just north of Stockholm.
Larsson does not want to get his expectations up too much at this point, though.
"No, that feels unnecessary. He has so far, never been tired after a race and he's got the right attitude, but he's still got to show more. It will be interesting to see him in the finals at Solvalla in mid-October. But that's as far as we have looked" he says.
Matiere starts already this Wednesday and will be one of the favorites in V86-2, a leg of the Solvalla series for horses who have made from SEK 150,000 to SEK 650,000 lifetime.
Starting from the inside post is not that good according to the trainer. The fact that the race will start behind the gate also worries him.
"He has only started behind the gate once, from the second tier. So, it's a bit tricky and we have practiced that here at the farm for this start" says Fredrik B Larsson, who tried Matiere behind his homemade starting gate on Monday.
After two wins and a fourth-place finish during his first season of racing, Matiere has made ten starts this year and he keeps progressing with each start. He has four wins and three second places in the ten starts so far this year.
"Used his strength"
The 5-year-old won the three-kilometer race Ringmurens lopp in Visby at the beginning of August, a race where he beat Daniel Redén's In Love Mearas in a fast finish.
Örjan Kihlström was in the lead with the same horse at Romme last time out and had to see Matiere beat him once again.
"I used his strength to beat Redén's horse, who we beat pretty easily in Visby. So, I obviously thought we could beat him again. I have felt that he has a lot of talent, but he has also needed the time after that long layoff, he's gotten better and better" says Fredrik B Larsson.
Has taken the weight off
Matiere has raced with steel shoes and has been hitting himself a bit in the races, says Larsson as an explanation to why he has made the three breaks. After having been able to take the weight off the horse, he has raced barefoot in his last two starts.
"He will race barefoot again on Wednesday, but he still races in a regular style sulky".
Larsson co-owns the horse, together with one partner from Stockholm and one from Gothenburg.
"They are both new owners who bought into the horse after I bought him myself as a yearling. So that's a lot of fun, two nice men. We don't know anything about the future, but we know we have an exciting horse".
So, you want to keep the bettors' expectations down for this start?
"The horse is good, he's still in very good form, it seems. It's the post position and the starting gate that could mess things up. Two big question marks for me. Last time out, he showed that he can win on 2,140 meters, but the long distance is an advantage for him".
You also have 12 Charlie Brown P.C. (V86-4) racing on Wednesday. A 4-year-old who has won one out of 18 starts and starts from post position twelve in another leg of the Solvalla series. Your thoughts on him?
"Had he had a better post, I would have thought he had a good chance to win, but now we have to lay low. He raced really, really well last time out when he finished second and has improved his form immensely lately. His last start was a five-star effort and considering the progress he's in the middle of now, I wouldn't be surprised if he can race on V75 later this fall. No changes, he will race barefoot upfront again".