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Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Blast from the past: Article featuring Therese Lindgren

RUS Helps Make Dream Come True in a Way

Article written in 2014 by MICHELLE MILLER 

Therese is a native of Sweden and is having a great RUS year – most recently winning the Red Mile race in Kentucky aboard In Nomine Patri. Also this year, she won an elimination race of the Hambo series at the Big M and placed second in the final. This blog was written by Michelle Miller using notes provided by Therese Lindgren.  


Featured Rider: Therese Lindgren  


Horses have always been a big part of Therese Lindgren’s life. As a kid, she dreamt of one day becoming a jockey.


“My mom told me I was going to be too tall, so I put my energy into being a harness racing driver,” she said.


The 32-year-old grew up in Sweden where she started driving in pony races at the age of 8. She said she got her first pony 14 days before she was born and could basically ride before she could walk. Lindgren won a Swedish RUS championship for ponies in 1993.


“I use to be in smaller jumping competition as a kid, but it wasn’t my thing,” said Lindgren who started to ride for a private trainer in dressage when she was 10 years old.

At age 16, Lindgren started working for a big stable in Sweden. And at age 18, she got her harness horse drivers license. Lindgren said she had a “really nice” year when she was 21.


“I was driving in big races in Sweden, Denmark and even got invited to a big race in Italy where I was third in the elimination and finished fourth in the final,” she said.

After that year, Lindgren took a year off from all things horses to catch up on school. However, she was right back working with them in no time.


“I started up my own stable and did okay,” she said. “I rode a few races over their but not really with any success.”


According to Lendgren, she got sick of everything in Sweden and sold everything and moved to New Jersey. She moved in 2009 and has been living  there ever since.


In 2011 Lindgren did something that could have kept her from racing – she broke her back. She said she had two discs that were laying on her sciatic nerved so there was only 10 percent left of it. Lindgren had back surgery and thought she may never walk again.

It was a RUS event that gave her the determination to not only walk again, but race again. Lindbgren set her sights on participating in the racing under saddle race set at the 


Meadowlands on Hambletonian Day and she had nine months to prepare.


“I felt in my whole body that I wanted to be in it,” she said. “With a lot of hard work and a  mind of steel I laid all my energy into it.”


Lindgren rode Take My Picture to a second place finish, but said for her it felt like a win. 

She said she was able to ride for a great horse owner who believed in her.


Last year Lindgren only rode in one RUS race. She said it was for her good friend Michelle Crawford, also a RUS rider and a native of Sweden. The venue was Saratoga Raceway where she rode Vassar Hall to a 2:07 victory.


Lindgren is having a very successful RUS  season this year. Aboard Take My Picture she  won an elimination of the Hambletonian RUS series at the Meadowlands and placed second in the final. Ironically, her good friend Michelle beat her on A Penny Earned in a time of 1:57.2.


Most recently, Lindgren raced to victory aboard In Nomine Patri in a RUS race held on October 5 at the Red Mile in Kentucky. Lindgren said she qualified the horse for two good friends of hers a week before the race.


“Lisa (Vatanen) who owns and trains him asked me if I wanted to ride him in Lexington and my answer was of course yes,” Lindgren said.

According to Lindgren, Lisa told her In Nomine Patri is a nice horse to ride but can be a little aggressive so her plan was to “take him back and race from behind and give him cover.”


“I didn’t want to go first up,” she said. “Everything worked out perfect, and on the stretch he flew home with a 27.2 last quarter.”


“It was like flying with the wind,” added Lindgren.


The win was bitter sweet for her however. Her mother had passed away three weeks before the big race and Lindgren wanted to honor her memory. According to Lindgren, the horse’s owners, Lisa and Joe Hanney, and her mother had been through a lot together so the win was felt magical.


While Lindgren has had several horses in her life, she says she has a special bond with Take My Picture.


“I used to work for his trainer Nik Drennan, so I have been taking care of him for years.” Lindgren said. “I know him very well and think I have him figured out pretty well.”

The RUS rider said she often advises Take My Picture’s driver how to drive him in harness races.


The bay gelding is a great horse to ride, but according to Lindgren he does have a few quirks.


“He doesn’t like to be on the track so he only goes on the machine or leads behind a horse,” she said, adding she also rides him once in a while on the farm.


Lindgren said Take My Picture is very special and has a mind of his own. For example, she said the horse likes to run off the track during warmups and does not like to turn to the starting gate. Even so, Lindgren said she is honored that the trainer and owners let her ride the open trotter.


The horse enthusiast currently works for White Birch Farm – a 800 acre standardbred breeding farm and renowned training center in Allentown, Monmouth County, New Jersey. She takes care of a horse she owns half of and helps others out at the farm as needed. As far as future goals, Lindgren said she plans on buying a baby and another race horse sometime this year to “see what happens.”


When it comes to RUS, Lindgren said she could not do it without Anthony “Tony” Robbin’s life coaching techniques.


“I am a huge fan and have attended two seminars with him. It changed my life,” she said.

It’s all about psychology and energy that one absorbs, according to Lindgren. The rider said she used to get very nervous for a race and almost freak out. She also claims she felt bad after racing with headaches and no energy in her body.


Lindgren admits she still gets butterflies in her stomach before a race, but said she is now more focused and knows how to better handle her feelings.


“My body now feels great after,” she noted.


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