V86®: Erik hopes for revenge with his exciting new acquisition
The multiple STL winner One Cristal is a new, exciting acquisition for trainer Erik Lindegren.
In his most recent start, he made a break on his way to a probable victory — now the connections are seeking revenge in V86®.
"We hope he can correct that now, so his past performances look like they should," says the Gävle licensed trainer.
Just over a month ago, Erik Lindegren welcomed a millionaire into his stable.
The horse is the 5-year-old 10 One Cristal (V86-6), who started his racing career in Bollnäs, for trainer Stefan Arvidsson and was later moved to Daniel Redén. The gelding showed top form this past summer and won twice in the Bronze Division. As of a few weeks, the horse is now part of the Erik Lindegren stable in Gävle.
"I'm actually brushing him right now, so he will look good on Wednesday," says Erik when we reach him on the phone. He then adds:
"It's a nice addition to our racing stable. I have known Gunilla (Wiklund, owner/breeder) for twenty years and when she called and asked if I could take the horse, I thought she was talking about a 3-year-old brother to One Cristal, but it was him. Then, of course, you wish for a different result than the one at Hagmyren, last time out; had we raced him with shoes, the result would have been better, but you learn constantly. We hope we can correct that now, so his past performances look like they should".
Erik refers to One Cristal's most recent start at Hagmyren.
The horse trotted first up, took over the lead into the last turn, and was going towards an easy win. But then,something happened.
"Yes, we went to "Hudik" to race him, took over the lead with 500 meters to go and he felt great, but soon after, he became footsore, his stride got shorter and he made a break coming into the stretch. It was unfortunate, but he was footsore after the race, so this time he will race with shoes, and hopefully, that will work out better".
Hoping for a good pace and cover
V86® is shared between Bergsåker and Solvalla this Wednesday and Lindegren makes the trip to the country's capital, to race his new horse for the third time. With revenge in mind.
"He felt great in his first start for me too, but got beaten late. I hadn't had him in training for very long then, but now I know him better and he feels great in training, so there shouldn't be any problems".
He starts from the second tier this time, but should he still be considered a winning candidate?
"The post is what it is, we have to hope for a high pace upfront, and then we will see how far that will take him. He feels great, as I said, and we know he's a good horse so if we can just get some good cover to follow, he should have a chance to win".
But you hand over the reins to Jorma Kontio this time?
"Yes, that was decided once he came to me, that in bigger races we will use a catch driver on him. That's also a reason why he has raced in cheaper races so that I would get a chance to feel how he acts in a race. Jorma was available so we landed on him".
What are the plans, will we see him in V75 again soon?
"If the horse is good, that's where he should race. He races well with shoes too, he has raced that way a lot in the past, so we will try to race him this winter when the best ones are off, so I hope we have a lot of fun times ahead of us".