Trotting trainer Risto Airaksinen, 73, has won the trotting competition every year since 1967.
Risto Airaksinen is a successful man of speed tracks for decades. Siiri Haapalainen, Finnish Hippos
Risto Airaksinen’s streak of winning years is one of the longest in Finland.
At the weekend, his trainee will participate in the lucrative Suur-Hollola race in Lahti.
Airaksinen was awarded coach of the year in the 2013 season.
Risto Airaksisen the handsome streak of annual trot wins continued a week ago Wednesday at Vermo’s raves, when Airaksinen rode his coach Anything For You – with the rake, a handsome number one position. Hämeenkoskelainen has won the trotting competition every year since 1967, i.e. this year is the 57th year in a row that Airaksinen has turned the horse to the winner’s presentation.
– I don’t know if the streak in itself is important, but it’s nice to also win when you race once. That’s why we race to win, Airaksinen sums up.
The Heppa system, maintained by Suomen Hippos, has reliable statistics of instructors since 1977, and before that the wins achieved have not automatically ended up in the statistics. However, Risto Airaksinen’s annual winnings have been recorded since 1967. Airaksinen also has an idea of why this has been done.
– I went to work in Sweden in 1972, and at that time you had to have a certain number of starts and wins to get a learner’s license. By that time, the wins were still so few that I remembered which horses they had come with, and my wins were dug up in the Finnish central organization by a sleight of hand from the horses’ results, Airaksinen recalls.
In the Heppa system, Airaksinen has no wins or starts from the years 1972 and 1973, but he did not remain winless even then.
– In 1972 I won at least in Finland and the following year in Sweden, so yes the streak is intact, he assures.
Risto Airaksinen emphasizes that his series of trotting victories is not the only one of its kind. Airaksinen assumes that the same age as him Pekka Korpi and four years younger, but who already started his career as a teenager Kari Rosimo have run an equally long series of winning years.
Airaksinen was in Sweden until 1981. In Finnish statistics, he has a total of 1279 victories. The highest number of wins in his career is from 1992, when Airaksinen drove 105 wins during the season. In recent years, Airaksinen’s number of starts and wins have been very small, because for a long time the vast majority of the races he coaches have been driven by other drivers. In 2020, he drove only one start all year – and a win – and this year the opening win came in the third start of the season.
Risto Airaksinen’s Anything For You is looking for success in the Suur-Hollola race this weekend. In the photo, Airaksinen, Anything For You and Kaisa Tamminen celebrating the victory of the Joensuu race in the summer of 2021. Aada Pölönen, Finnish Hippos
Appropriate number of horses
Airaksinen, known for a long time by the nickname Pappa, is one of the most respected trotters in Finland. He was awarded coach of the year in the 2013 season, and Airaksinen’s skills are highly valued in sports circles.
At most, Airaksinen had fifty horses in his training. Currently there are three to be coached, which he considers to be a suitable number for his age.
– You can spend the whole day with these, Airaksinen laughs.
– Quitting completely has never really been in my mind. A few years ago, my health took a turn for the worse when my other knee had to be operated on, and I also had a heart attack. At that time, I was on sick leave for a few months and when I was just messing around, I soon started to feel that this is not my life. The time suddenly becomes long, and it’s not good for me to do nothing anyway.
Airaksinen does not say that he misses running a large stable.
– The profession of a trotting trainer is so demanding that outsiders probably cannot understand it. You have to have a lot of different skills when you have to understand the horses, the economy, keep the workers happy and be a customer service person. A trotting trainer who runs a large operation must have an extremely good ability to withstand pressure.
Luck in the draw
At the weekend, Risto Airaksisen has another chance to step into the limelight. Anything For You, trained by him, competes in the Suur-Hollola race in Lahti, the winner of which is paid 90,000 euros. The qualifying heats of the competition will be run on Saturday and the final on Sunday. Anything For You is led by Finland’s No. 1 coach Santtu Raitala.
Airaksinen takes a cautiously positive approach to the possibilities of his coach.
– It was good luck in the track draw when Anything For You got a triple track. The races are so hard and even, that the starting positions are of great importance. The horse was so good last time that the expectations are quite good.