Daniel Wäjersten and Great Skills: Swedish Hopes for Winter Meeting in France

Daniel Wäjersten and Great Skills will be one of the Swedish hopes during the Winter Meeting • The coach’s hesitation: “The first time”

Published 2023-11-10 11.59

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Great Skills will be one of the Swedish horses that will compete in France during the winter. Photo: Malin Albinsson / Tr Bild

The star mare Great Skills starts as huge favorite at V75.

After that she is aimed at France.

– I do not rule out her starting in the Prix d’Amérique, says trainer Daniel Wäjersten.

Great Skills has earned 1.5 million in the last two starts, this after victories in Sto-EM and Sto-SM.

On Saturday, she can take her fifth straight victory, this on V75 from her home track Bergsåker.

But the great adventure for the super mare and her trainer Daniel Wäjersten begins afterwards, as there are many indications that the performance in the gold division will be the last on Swedish soil before the journey to Paris begins.

Racing in France on Christmas Eve

It is an expectant coach who talks about the match and the big trip to France and the Winter Meeting.

– We’ll see a bit after the race on V75 from Bergsåker. Maybe that she starts in another race in Sweden or that she travels to France and does a race there. In any case, the plan is to start in the five-year-old race Prix Ténor de Baune, which is decided at Vincennes on Christmas Eve.

What does the arrangement look like?

– We have four pit spaces at Grosbois. The ones I know will travel there are Great Skills and Titan Yoda. Then we’ll see who the others will be. You have to agree with the owners if they want to make a bet.

Tough driver’s decision: “Nothing is decided”

Daniel Wäjersten himself has never competed at Vincennes and whether he will possibly drive Great Skills during the Winter Meeting has not yet been decided.

– It will be the first time for me now and even though I feel great support from the owner Rolf Andersson, I am a little hesitant myself. Maybe a coachman who knows the track better than I can drive then, very much to give the horse the best opportunities. But nothing is decided yet, we’ll see about that part.

How do you feel about participating in the super race Prix d’Amérique with Great Skills?

– First, I want to see how she works down there on the track. Then it may be that she has to qualify on her own. But I do not rule out that we start in the Prix d’Amérique.

Last year Great Skills won the big race Stochampionatet at Axevalla.

Now Daniel Wäjersten has good hopes that the conditions in Paris will suit the five-year-old Ready Cash daughter.

– It’s up and down but I think it will suit as she is both very strong and fast. Even with her lineage it should fit.

Great Skills won the Sto Championship last year. In the picture with attendant Lisa Gilljam and her trainer Daniel Wäjersten. Photo: Malin Albinsson / Tr Bild

The coach’s tribute: “Very high IQ”

Great Skills seems to have found huge gears. Can you describe her as a horse?

– It feels like this year she has grown into her big body. Last year she was a little slow in some races. Normal horses usually stop growing at three years old but maybe it was that she needed more time to carry her large body. You could see early on when she started competing, then for Hans-Owe Sundberg, that there was something extra.

– She has many strengths, but one of them is that she is very easy to work with. She has a huge exterior and can maintain high speed for a long time. Great Skills is extremely kind and very wise. It’s hard to explain, but if she were a human she would have a very high IQ.

Will you be commuting between France and Sweden this winter?

– Attendant Martina Gilljam, with whom Great Skills is very confident, goes down with her. Then my plan is to fly down one day a week and train, flying early in the morning.

check Prix Ténor de Baune is run on Christmas Eve at the Vincennes track in Paris. The race is run over a distance of 2,700 metres. The first prize is 54,000 euros and a direct place in the super race Prix d’Amérique which will be decided on the last Sunday of January 2024.

previousfullscreennextIf Great Skills delivers at Vincennes, she could be one of the starters in the French super race Prix d’Amérique at Vincennes.

1 / 2Photo: Lars Jakobsson / TR BILD

2023-11-12 05:51:19
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