V86®: The Elitlopp outrider will drive again at Solvalla on Wednesday
In May, Mats Holmstedt helped opening up the Elitlopp weekend one last time together with the royal horse Nisse.
This Wednesday, the regimental farrier who is also Solvalla's farrier can win an amateur race as a driver at the home track with Erik Svensson's Campari.
"I have to be pretty optimistic with Campari who was fantastic in his last start" says the driver who is also a rider.
As the outrider of the opening ceremony at Elitloppet, 60-year-old Mats Holmstedt has contributed to the party at the Elitlopp weekend since 2008 together with the Czech gelding Nils.
Nisse, as the horse is usually called, is now retired from the LifeGuards Cavalry Barracks 1 and from his racetracks duties.
Mats Holmstedt has shoed both riding horses as well as trotters around the Stockholm area for 42 years and he has been Solvalla's farrier for 'a good 30 years' as he puts it.
And it was his position as the LifeGuards' farrier and also for the Mounted Royal Guards of Sweden that he contributed with the Royal glory at the Elitlopp weekends.
The handsome Nisse is an Oldkladubry horse and he is Holmstedt's own horse who got to retire when he was still on top of his game, at age 22.
"We have made over 800 public appearances together at racetracks across the country and also at the Sweden International Horse Show. Nisse is truly a horse who wants to perform. From now on, he will enjoy his life as retired together with his best friend at my farm and he has learned to appreciate the quiet life, as it seems" says Mats.
All heart
The white horse Nisse turns 23 on January 1 and he does not have any aches or pains due to his age. Mats Holmstedt wanted the horse to retire anyway.
"He is the type of horse who always thinks everything is a lot of fun. Not the type of horse who gets old and dies - not if there's a chance to do something even more fun. We could have continued for many more years and Nisse might have had a heart attack and dropped down since he is all heart out there. You don't want this to happen in front of a big crowd at Elitloppet or at Friends Arena...that would take all the good memories away" says Holmstedt.
Younger officers are taking over
Elitloppet and Jubileumspokalen are big race days when winners are escorted from the winners' circle to the stable area by an outrider. In the last few years, Mats has educated other horses and riders at these big events, and from now on, others than Nisse and Holmstedt will take over the duties at Solvalla.
"We have young officers and new white horses who have done this a couple of years now and they have done very well. It's fun with the regrowth. This is a closed chapter for me, just because this is one of the most fun things you can do. I want more people to get the chance to do it! I'm not saying I'm getting old, but I want this to live on with other people involved, especially now that we have come so far that the army and the Mounted Royal Guards foundation think it's great that we are showing ourselves off to the public. Had I continued for another 20 years, then nobody else would have gotten the chance to learn this".
"I was really chasing a win there"
This Wednesday, Mats Holmstedt drives at Solvalla. He sits up behind the Erik Svensson-trained 6 Campari (V86-4) who won by open lengths after having gone to the lead in the early stages last time out, also with Mats in the sulky.
Holmstedt is experienced in the game with somewhere between 700 to 800 races under his belt.
"Something like that, yes. I don't know the exact number of total wins I have. But I have won all the trophies you can win for amateurs at Solvalla and also K.G. Bertmarks Memorial at Jägersro. I was really chasing a win in that race for years and I was in the final seven times, more than anyone has ever been. The seventh time was the charm for me when I finally got to win it with Porthos Race, trained by Åke Lindblom. He was fantastic that day".
Another horse you refer to as fantastic is the horse you are driving in V86-4. Campari is a bit rough gaited but he was terrific when you won with him last time out at Solvalla.
"Yes, he has a lot of the French gait. He is by Love You and that means he throws in an extra step now and then. But it was never any problem during the race. He almost made a break in the last turn, but as long as you have him on the bit it works out".
Is your plan to go to the lead again?
"I will take it easy out of the gate and then we will see how it unfolds. When we make our move. He is a strong horse and he was terrific last time out and he is one of two or three horses that stand out in this race. I have driven many, many times for Erik Svensson. The orders from him have always been to assume that I have the worst horse in the field and stay along the pylons. But not with Campari. I got the opposite orders and that was the first time ever. So both Erik and I really like this horse" says Mats Holmstedt.