Per Henriksen is a creative trainer, willing to try different things
whether it be radical shoeing changes, different training techniques,
or innovative bridles and equipment.
His latest creation has helped to make it easier to warm up the
trotter Don Boss Vita, who makes his next start in the $12,500 Super
Bowl Series Consolation, the eighth race on Wednesday night at the
Meadowlands.
"He can pull really bad," said Henriksen of his headstrong
trotter. "When he pulls like that, I have to fight with him, and he
leaves his race on the track during warm ups. I took a backpack and
attached a metal screen to it, kind of like the screen on the
starting gate or a jogging gate. One of my assistants puts it on
their back and jogs a horse directly in front of me. I put Don Boss
Vita's nose right on that gate, and he will relax completely. I can
drive him with two fingers."
Don Boss Vita posted a 1:56 victory in the second round of the Super
Bowl Series last Wednesday [January 15] at the Meadowlands with Mike
Lachance in the sulky. The week before, he made a break and finished
eighth.
"Last week, I jogged him a mile, and he was pretty calm so I decided
to turn him a mile while warming him up," Henriksen said. " He took
off, I pulled all I could pull on him, and he still went in 2:05 in a
jog cart. He tied up from that and didn't race well at all. This
week, he was much calmer."
Although the trotter won his last start by eight and a quarter
lengths and trotted two to three seconds faster than those in the
other Super Bowl prelims, he did not have enough earnings in the
three-week series to qualify for the $80,000 final, the sixth race on
Wednesday.
Henriksen is also training the Iowa sensation, four-year-old
Homestead Dreamer, a winner of 27 of 32 career starts, who makes his
first Meadowlands start in Thursday night's second race.
Owned by retired veterinarian Dale Hein of Elkader, Iowa, Homestead
Dreamer won a qualifier at the Meadowlands on January 10 in 1:59 with
a last quarter in 27:3 seconds.
"He's a real nice horse, and I've made very few changes on him,"
said Henriksen. "Any horse who wins 27 of 32 is pretty good."
The son of Lucky Twenty-Five has banked $60,854 and has only
finished worse than second once in his 32-race career. That was
September 27, 2002 at Lexington's Red Mile, when he broke stride and
finished sixth.