V86®: Flemming comes in urgent matter
When Flemming Jensen has a good enough horse he likes to go to race in Sweden.
On Wednesday V86® will be raced at Solvalla and Jägersro and the Danish trainer has two starters at the Malmö racetrack.
"I think both my horses should have some possibilities to battle for the win".
The cold weather has also hit Denmark. For Fleming Jensen it doesn't mean any drastic changes. He has good training opportunities and he has already won over 10 races with a win percent over 30.
"Sure it's cold even here, which is pretty rare. We put down salt on the tracks and we're able to train how we want and the horses like it. Us people just have to put some more clothes on" says Jensen.
Cold is also the tempereraure when we talk about Danish horse racing. It's a tough situation for the trainers and there just isn't enough money to race for. As soon as the classes are right more and more trainers go over to Sweden to race.
"Last year my stable won 110 races and had a win percent over 30. We've been around there for many years now. It's good but it doesn't generate enough money. We had earnings of DKK 3.6 million, it would have been more but the pandemic put racing to a halt last spring. Me and Steen Juul are at those numbers and we have the two biggest stables by far. It's good for being in Denmark but compared to Sweden for example it's not good enough. It's crucial for us to be able to go over to Sweden to race. Sure, we also look at France, but you have to have very good horses to compete there".
Aiming for Sweden with Emoji
Flemming Jensen trains around 50 horses and most of them are race horses of various ages so he hasn’t put up a specific goal, he hopes this year will be as good as last year.
"If we can match the numbers from last year and maybe improve on them a bit, then I'm happy. I don't have that many younger horses, the average age is 6-7 somewhere and they race consistently".
Last year the Jensen stable won the Danish derby for mares with Eenymeenyminymoe and she's a mare that Flemming has a lot of hopes for this year together with Emoji, who was one of the better four year old stud horses in Denmark last year.
"Eenymeenyminymoe is training the way she should and I hope she can take another step up this year. She is good and I have hopes for her this year too. Emoji progressed some last fall and he's a very capable horse. He's still immature and he looks at things at the track. Sometimes he is scared of the starting gate too. Emoji just has a few races in Denmark so we will aim for Sweden with him and that will be exciting. He is such a capable horse and I think he would even do well in France and we have plans for that too, but that's further ahead in the crystal ball”.
Jensen is coming to Jägersro with two horses on Wednesday, two old retainers.
"1 Slide So Easy (V86-1) is a fantastic horse with whom we have had so much fun. He will make some starts even this time of the year. He's up in age now and I want to keep him moving, that's why. Last time out on V75 he had to go too hard in the lead and when he was tired he also lost some of the motivation. We've gone over him but there was nothing wrong so we'll try again. He feels they way he should in training and this looks a bit easier than the field he faced in his last start. He can leave, but I don't know if he can hold up the lead. If we do, I will probably race him there".
"5 Aros Line (V86-7) was OK when he finished third in his last start. He's a sprinter and last time out it was 2,000 meters which is a disadvantage for him. He's very quick out of the gate and usually takes the lead when he starts in the first tier, like this time. He's a fast horse with fitting conditions here and I hope we will end up in the photo. He's best barefoot but now he has to race with shoes, which is no advantage for him, but he handled that without any problems in his last start".