V86®: Borg advises everyone to play with the winning machine
Seven wins in nine starts and never worse than third.
Four-year-old Fakserling has been tough to stop since he started racing last summer and he will be the favorite in this Wednesday's coldblood race at Bjerke.
"You can't play V86® without using Fakserling on your ticket" says Thor Borg.
Solvalla is co-hosting V86® together with Bjerkebanen in Oslo, Norway, where the coldblood Fakserling with only nine lifetime starts will be the favorite in V86-3. Fakserling came to the Thor Borg stable at the end of last year and started racing in June this year. The horse needed that time to get the speed into his legs.
After finishing second in his racing debut on June 26 at his home track Jarlsberg, the four-year-old stallion has won seven races. When he finished third at Årjäng in September, he was actually sick.
Almost a hundred percent wins. On Wednesday, he has post position two on the starting distance in V86-3, a handicap race, and most things suggest he will be in the lead for a good part of the race.
"Of course, he faces better and better horses every time. But this field on Wednesday doesn't really scare me. So, as long as he is healthy he should have a good chance of winning. He leaves fast and usually takes the lead" says Thor Borg.
"I got bored"
The 70-year-old Thor Borg is back at it again as a trainer and teams up with Stian Hallenstvedt and his girlfriend Maria Tverbak Widnes.
In 2017, Borg retired from training horses and handed in his license after 3,329 driving wins to play golf and as he says 'see the world'.
"Then the covid pandemic came and I got bored doing nothing, so I started training horses again. After that, I just kept going. Horses have always been my life" says Thor Borg.
Eirik Höitomt has driven Fakserling at six of his seven wins. It has often been a quick start to the lead and then a win.
Thor Borg is pleased with the horse who seems to be in top form. He also appears to like racing frequently. Three wins in three starts in October!
"Fakserling raced better than ever last time out at Klosterskogen, when he set a new personal best of 1:26.6 over 1,700 meters with the gate. He was good then. Same equipment as in every start and barefoot behind".
Should go on the ticket
The horse has only made NOK 129,000 and he is still pretty green.
"The purses are bad in Norway, he hasn't been able to make more money. The horse is good and he can absolutely win the race. He doesn't make breaks, that's a plus. I can tell the bettors that you can't play V86 without having Fakserling on your ticket" says Thor Borg.
"Has gotten better"
We also check in with driver Eririk Höitomt, who only has lost once behind Fakserling.
"He leaves fast and he likes racing in the lead. He usually wins, so we have to be optimistic. He's a solid horse who has been good in all starts except for one. At Årjäng in September he wasn't good when he finished third. After the race, he came up sick" says Eirik Höitomt, one of Norway's most winning drivers with over 5,000 wins. Fakserling has a lot of heart and has never made a break in a race.
"His gate is a bit short but he is very tough and quick. He is also safe. I try to say what I think when it comes to balancing and shoeing. We hope and think that he will be good as a five-year-old too. He has gotten better and better all the time and there seems to be more development within him" says Eirik Höitomt.
Fun fact: Fakserling is owned and bred by the Norwegian TV commentator Morten Langli. Langli is one of the owners of Greenshoe, who raced for Marcus Melander in the USA and went on to stand stud following his three-year-old campaign after having been sold for around SEK 140 million.