V86®: Tiffany raises the bar for the undefeated Emporio Broline
Four starts, four wins
After a flawless start to his career, Tiffany Wistrand is now raising the bar for her talented trotter, Emporio Broline.
"We’re humble about the task ahead, but I wouldn’t have entered him in this race if I didn’t believe in him," says the trainer ahead of Wednesday’s V86®.
First-class racing awaits at Solvalla this week — the sport’s national arena will host three race days, culminating in a spectacular Saturday filled with major stakes races.
However, already on Wednesday, as Solvalla shares the V86® card with Halmstad, fans can look forward to quality competition, with a focus on young horses. One highlight is the Kriterium Consolation — a chance for horses that didn’t qualify for Saturday’s finals.
From young Gävle-based trainer Tiffany Wistrand comes a particularly interesting contender.
7 Emporio Broline (V86-4) remains unbeaten after four career starts. In fact, the gelding hasn’t even come close to losing yet.
"He’s started off incredibly well — it’s so much fun. It’s especially exciting for me as a small trainer, just 24 years old, to have a horse like this. It’s amazing," says Tiffany, continuing:
"Everything’s good with him right now. He’s trained well leading up to this, and honestly, he couldn’t have done more in his previous starts. It’s looked great all the way, and he’s such an exciting horse because we still don’t really know how good he might be."
It hasn’t looked like he’s had to push himself too hard so far, has it?
"No, but last time he did have to dig in a bit. The leader was very tough in that race, so my horse had to show some real fighting spirit at the end — and he did. That was fun to see."
Carefully managed – built for longevity
Tiffany Wistrand is part of the Gävle harness racing circuit as an amateur trainer.
She currently trains nine horses, and this year has been a strong one — though the newly 24-year-old has no immediate plans to turn professional.
"It’s been a fantastic year. All my horses have done well — well, more or less," she says with a laugh. "I did take the preparatory pro trainer course a few years ago, but I want to be able to own my horses myself and know exactly what’s going on. That’s really important to me — I want to love all my horses."
That philosophy has also shaped Emporio Broline’s early career.
All four wins have come in easier races at Hagmyren and Bollnäs.
"Yes, it’s important to me that my horses love to race. These are the horses I have, and I’m not very good at selling them… I want them to have long careers. That’s why I’ve matched him carefully and not rushed anything."
Is that also why he’s not entered in most of next year’s stake races for four-year-olds?
"Yes, exactly. We want to take things one step at a time. I’m not that interested in facing the absolute ‘best of the best’ — the competition in Wednesday’s race is already strong enough! I’d much rather have a horse that can race on V75 and in regular races for a long time than one that burns out chasing big trophies."
A step forward in his development
So — “Wednesday’s race.
That’s when Emporio Broline takes his next step up in class. The Kriterium Consolation will be by far the toughest test of his career.
"It’s the first time he’s facing this level of opposition, so of course it’ll be exciting to see how he stacks up. But it’s also an important step in his development — you don’t want to hold a horse back either. There’s a fine line between careful management and under-challenging them. This will definitely be a baptism by fire, and I’m very excited. We’re humble about it, but as I said, I wouldn’t have entered him if I didn’t believe he could handle it."
So what do you think — can Emporio Broline be in the mix for the win?
"Yes, honestly, we don’t know how good he is yet. But I expect the winning time will be around 1:13, and I wouldn’t be in the race if I didn’t think he could manage that. We’re still taking things carefully — he’ll wear the set earplugs as before, but this will be the first time with an open bridle. Last time he got a bit too fired up with the can’t-see-back bridle, and since this is his first start over the longer distance, we want him to focus all his energy on racing. We’ll see how he responds, but he’s been good in training. Other than that, no changes — he’ll race with shoes all around and in a regular style sulky," says Tiffany and concludes:
"It’s going to be a lot of fun. He’s a lovely horse and an outsider since he hasn’t faced this kind of competition before."