V86®: Lövgren's Derby winner can close out the year with another big win
He put on quite a show when he won the Danish Derby and also took an impressive victory in the premiere of V85®.
Now Kreadlys Lew will round off a brilliant season as the favorite in S:t Leger at Åby.
“I think that his last start was the best race of his career. He’s a very complete horse, and I’m curious to see how good he can become next year,” says trainer Joakim Lövgren.
On Wednesday, Åby and Solvalla will share the V86® Xpress card. At the track in Mölndal, the prestigious S:t Leger for stayers will be raced over slightly more than three laps, with SEK 200,000 to the winner.
The favorite in the race is Joakim Lövgren’s Kreadlys Lew, who has had an incredible season, earning almost SEK 2 million this year alone. The crown jewel of his campaign was, of course, his victory in the Danish Trotting Derby, where he toyed with his rivals and won easily after also winning his elimination.
“He had been in good form leading up to the Derby eliminations and performed well in his elimination, which made him the favorite for the final. But he also had his best day that day, and everything went perfectly. He won by a clear margin, and in this difficult sport that we’re in, you have to be humble and appreciate when the horse delivers at his very best when it matters most. It was a fantastic day after aiming for that goal for such a long time,” says Lövgren.
“He’s as complete as you could imagine – a real gem”
The four-year-old Kreadlys Lew has a 35% win rate and has finished in the top three 73% of the time. He has earned over SEK 2.2 million and has won over both 3,000 meters and 1,640 meters. It is also remarkable that this winning horse has never made a break in any of his 26 career starts.
“He’s as complete a horse as you could wish for in a four-year-old. He’s fast out of the gate, trots reliably, strong, quick, and handles all distances and positions. He’s truly a real gem,” says Lövgren.
“I felt he was quite promising as a three-year-old and delivered some good races, but then he became very sharp, especially around the time of the Danish Kriterium qualifiers. He really took off, opening up a 20–30 meter lead, and I felt I couldn’t control him. We had problems with his temperament, so we changed both his training routine and race tactics.”
“In the beginning of his career, I could send him out from the start without any problems, but later he became overly eager. This year, he hasn’t made a single mistake, and I’ve trained him with that in mind and equipped him accordingly. You could say those were his youthful mistakes, and now there are no problems anymore,” explains the Jägersro-based trainer.
“Already in the spring I felt he could keep up with the best of his crop”
Kreadlys Lew has six wins from 14 starts this year (after three wins last year) and, besides the Danish Derby, has also raced several times against tough competition in the Swedish four-year-old elite. He was first seen in the King's Trophy in the spring, finishing third in his elimination and unplaced in the final, where things didn’t quite go his way. He was then fourth in his Grand Prix de l'UET elimination and eighth in the final, having been positioned far back and unable to make up ground in the fast finish.
“I felt early in the spring, in the King's Trophy, that he could match the best of his generation after a pretty tough elimination. Then it didn’t come together in the final, and even if it might not have looked that way from the outside, I got the confirmation I wanted.”
“After that, he’s battled on and hasn’t given me a bad race once. In the Grand Prix de l'UET final, the competition was incredibly tough, and the leader Dream Mine, who won, finished the last lap extremely fast, at 1.08 speed the final 500 meters. My horse raced just as well as he had before.”
“He just fought on and managed it purely through determination”
What did you think of his most recent performance when he won the V85 race at Jägersro on the opening card?
“I think it was the best race of his career—especially considering the circumstances and how he handled them. Many times when you’re driving a race, you realize it’s not going to work out—maybe with a lap to go, 700 meters left, or 300 left.
“That’s how it was last time. I never got the feeling that we’d be able to fix it after a poor start, when we ended up far back with no cover. At the same time, they were going very fast around the final turn, and we had many lengths to make up. But the horse just kept fighting, and it was purely through determination that he managed it.”
How would you describe Kreadlys Lew and his qualities?
“He’s relatively small, just like his sire Readly Express, and measures about 156–157 cm at the withers. He’s a durable horse, which is also an important factor—he hasn’t had any injuries or setbacks. He’s easy to train and, as I mentioned earlier, a very complete horse.”
“It feels like he’s ready to deliver at the top level again”
Now it’s time for Kreadlys Lew’s final start of the season when he races in the S:t Leger over more than three laps on Wednesday. He starts with a 40-meter handicap in the seventh race, and trainer Lövgren remains confident in his Derby winner.
“We haven’t seen any signs of concern—he’s training as usual and, knock on wood, has stayed healthy. He’s facing two Derby finalists (Fighter Kronos and Bootsman), and I’ll have to keep an eye on both the front group and those starting near me, from the same starting distance. It feels like his form is still there, and he should perform at his best level. I always believe in this horse when I enter the track with him. There will be no equipment changes—he’ll go the same as last time: barefoot all around, with a pull-down bridle (which he wore for the first time last start), and with a regular style sulky. This is planned to be his last start of his four-year-old season,” says Lövgren.
What do you think about Kreadlys Lew for next year?
“There’s a powerful elite in Sweden, and this year’s four-year-old crop is very sharp. So, it’s not just a matter of jumping into the five-year-old season and expecting the same success. But I think he’s improved steadily as the year has gone on. Now he’ll get another winter’s worth of training, and then we’ll see how well that pays off and how competitive he’ll be next year.”
“There’s every reason to believe he can repeat what he’s done this year, and if he can improve by another ten to fifteen meters, then he’ll be up in the top class and competing with the very best. We’ll get those answers next year—but as long as he stays sound and healthy, I’m very curious to see how good he can become with another winter of training in his body.”