Marcus Johansson hopes mid-year bad luck is in the process of being converted to good for what remains of this season.
The 30-year-old native of Sweden is in his first full year training horses on his own after spending time as an assistant to Jimmy Takter, who also is his father-in-law, and working a couple seasons as a catch driver. He has two horses in Matron Stakes finals on Saturday at Dover Downs – OK To Play in the two-year-old filly trot and Road Rash in the two-year-old colt trot. Johansson had high hopes for both horses earlier in the year, but a virus swept through his small stable in July and set back his progress.
Now, though, his horses might be fresher than others that have raced hard throughout the summer and fall.
“It’s a long season,” said Johansson, who had one win and 12 on-the-board finishes in 32 starts. “If you get a horse that gets going a little later, I think you’re in better shape at this time of year. It doesn’t matter if the horse makes $300,000 at the end of the year or at the beginning. It all counts the same.”
OK To Play (Yankee Glide--Olympic Light) has one win in nine starts and is coming off a second-place finish to Margarita Momma in her Matron elim on November 8. Margarita Momma’s time of 1:56.2 equaled the track record and was three-fifths of a second faster than the record for the stakes final. OK To Play was one and a half lengths back, but five lengths ahead of third-place Celebrity Juliet. Olympic Light is a half sister to 1992 Filly World Trotting Derby winner Almost An Angel, who as a dam produced stakes-winners Michelles Angel and Al Dente Hanover.
“I always thought she was really good,” Johansson said about OK To Play, who was a $105,000 yearling purchased by Daniel Plouffe and Jean Claude Dessureault. “I think she can be really good [in the Matron final]. If she gets a good trip out of it she should be close, anyway.”
Road Rash (Broadway Hall--Customary Logo) has raced only four times and is coming off a third-place finish in his Matron elim, which was won by Cesar A Blue Chip in 1:57. He won a baby race at the Meadowlands by 10 and a half lengths in 2:01.3 on July 2 before being sidelined with illness. He is a full brother to Broadway Marquis, who was unraced at two, but finished second to Deweycheatumnhowe in a Bluegrass Stakes division at the Red Mile in September. Broadway Marquis was timed in 1:53.3.
“He had something in his eye that told me he wanted to come home with me,” Johansson said about buying Road Rash, who is owned in part by his wife, Nancy, and mother-in-law, Christina. “I paid $14,000 for him. My father-in-law looked at him and the first thing he said was I’ll give you [$20,000] for him. I told him I wasn’t going to sell him. He was really good from the beginning and right until the point when he got sick.
“I had to put him away a little bit and I’ve had a little trouble getting him back to where he was. He’s coming back to himself right now.”
Johansson came to the U.S. at the age of 18 to work for Takter. He planned to stay for only a year, but, as he explained, “I met my wife there so it turned out to be a little longer.”
In 2004, Johansson won 182 races and earned $1.2 million as a driver. He is happy now to focus on training and has a dozen horses in his stable.
“Sometimes I miss driving more, but mostly not,” Johansson said. “It’s nice to be home with your family. I’ve got two little ones that I adore. I really don’t want to have a 50-horse stable. If I could get around 20 in the future, that would be great. If I have a little luck and keep quality, that would be fun. It’s a big thrill to see them do well on the racetrack.”
Johansson knows any success he enjoys will be seen by some as being influenced by Takter, but that doesn’t bother the young trainer.
“I’ve got to say [Takter] leaves me alone pretty much to make my own mistakes,” Johansson said. “But, of course, I’ve got to say it’s good to have Jimmy Takter as your father-in-law. If you ever run into problems you can always ask him for help. He helps anyone in this sport, but it’s good to have him close.
“It doesn’t matter what I do. If I do good people are going to say that, so it doesn’t really matter. If people think that he helped me all the way then let them think so. I know myself. I sleep good at night.”
Even better with better luck.