LENNART REUTERSKIÖLD
LENNART REUTERSKIÖLD Sweden’s man of the moment
On the 11th of August, Irish-bred Hurricane Red duly obliged as the favourite to give trainer Lennart “Junior” Reuterskiöld his first Swedish Derby. Emotions were running high; Reuterskiöld could barely speak and his eyes were filled with tears as he entered the winner’s enclosure. “I can barely remember the last 400 metres, I was just screaming,” he said. WORDS: FREDRIK OTTER PHOTOS: STEFan OlSSOn
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HE week before the Derby, you could feel the tension in the air at the yard of Reuterskiöld, known as Junior to the Swedish racing crowd. For the first time ever, Reuterskiöld was saddling three horses, all in the big race with a good shot. His yard is situated at Jägersro, home of the Derby, so he had the advantage of home turf, even though the racing surface at Jägersro is dirt. Without a Derby win under his belt prior to this one, Reuterskiöld was known to train older horses, but now that has changed. Among the three he ran in the Derby was USbred Mr Edge, by Added Edge. Mr Edge was unlucky in the draw having to start from stall 12 and was never competitive in the race. More important, Be My Award, by Academy
Award, won the Derby Trial in style and got drawn in stall six. Be My Award finished best of all Swedish-breds and came fourth after racing alongside Hurricane Red for a good part of the race. Reuterskiöld’s best horse, Hurricane Red, by Hurricane Run, won the first leg of Jägersro’s Triple Crown, Voterlöpning, a race from which four of the last five Derby winners stem. Hurricane Red was the highest rated horse in the Derby on official ratings, six pounds higher than the Sir Mark Prescott-trained raider Alcaeus (by Hernando), and ten pounds higher than the other English raider, Proud Citizen’s London Citizen. Now to the big race: It was London Citizen, trained by Elaine Burke, who got the lead. The pace was fast and Elione Chaves put Hurricane Red just behind London Citizen
with stablemate Be My Award on the outside. With 1000 metres to run, the attacks from behind were forming, but Chaves held the rail with Hurricane Red and just waited. At the top of the stretch, a gap appeared and with a tremendous turn of foot he quickened away to an easy victory with London Citizen a clear second. It was a joyful moment for Reuterskiöld, the eldest brother in a trio of trainers, and the crowd was cheering loudly when he led Hurricane Red to the winner’s enclosure. When asked what the Derby means to him, the answer came quickly: “A Derby is a Derby; it is the race all owners and trainers are looking forward to winning. When we buy yearlings, it is with this race in mind and of course it meant a lot to me to win the Derby. Many top people in this game will never have
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