Teenage Swedish Jockey Hopes to Make It In US

When Todd Pletcher named Annie Lindahl to ride My Life (Quality Road) in Sunday's 12th race at Gulfstream, a lot of people were no doubt scratching their heads. Where was John Velazquez or Javier Castellano and who, exactly, is Annie Lindahl?

Just 19, she happens to be the leading apprentice in Sweden and is spending the winter galloping horses in the mornings for Pletcher in an effort to improve her skills. If the story sounds familiar, another Scandinavian, Norwegian William Buick, also worked with Pletcher during the winters before he shot to stardom in the major European racing countries. Pletcher would also give Buick the occasional mount on a long shot at Gulfstream.

Lindahl has many a mountain to climb before she can be compared to Buick, but she's ambitious and off to a good start. She's won 34 races in Sweden and still has her bug.

“I would really like to try to make it here,” she said after My Life finished eighth in what was her first ever mount in the US. “It would be amazing to try it. I will go back to Sweden but I would love to come back here. I know it is tough and I would have to work hard. When would I like to come? As soon as possible.”

She first came to Florida in 2016 to work with Pletcher but could only stay a month because she was still in school. This time, she'll stick around until late March when the thoroughbred season resumes in Sweden.

“I've learned a lot here and being here has helped me get better,” he said. “I get to ride a lot of horses in the morning, break from gate. lt's a lot different from Sweden. The training is different. They gallop slower in Sweden in the mornings and they gallop together. Here, we gallop alone. I like that.”

Lindahl's main client in Sweden is female trainer Bodil Hallencreutz. She campaigned one of the best horses ever to come out of Scandinavia in Let'sgoforit (Ire) (Verglas {Ire}). The gelding won 21 of 42 career starts but his best performance may have come in a defeat. Swedish racing is not nearly on par with the sport in England, Ireland and France so it was somewhat surprising when Hallencreutz sent the horse to Dubai last year. In his first start there, he finished third in a $150,000 listed stakes before finishing off the board in two subsequent tries at Meydan. He was retired in July.

Lindahl never got to ride him as his regular jockey was Oliver Wilson.

“Annie is very good and she won a lot of races for me,” Hallencreutz said. “The horses like her. She sits still, they run for her and she won some races for me when we didn't expect she would win. She rides in work in the mornings but I have some other jockeys that I use. I don't use her in some of the bigger races. We have a lot of South American male jockeys who ride here and do very well. She can't compare with them yet, but she was the top apprentice here.”

Lindahl said that can be a problem for her and other female jockeys in Sweden.

“It's hard (for a female jockey) in Sweden, but I think it's harder in England and Ireland and even here,” she said. “We get quite a lot of chances actually, but in the big races they pick the guys. They think boys are stronger and boys are better.”

The other problem all Swedish jockeys face is that trotting is so popular in the country that Thoroughbred racing can seem almost invisible. The top harness drivers are big stars in the country, on par, even, with the Swedes playing in the NHL. Not so for jockeys.

“It's strange because Thoroughbred racing is so much more exciting than trotting and so much faster,” Lindahl said. “I guess it is because there has always been a lot of trotting throughout the country. Everyone knows about trotting.”

If she were to make it in the U.S. she would not be the first female jockey from Sweden to do so. Inez Karlsson won 468 races riding primarily at the Chicago tracks from 2007 until her retirement in 2012. But her journey to U.S. racing was far from typical. She was a boxer in Sweden and didn't get involved in racing until coming to this country.

Though young and inexperienced, Lindahl understands how hard it is going to be for her to make it her. But she wants to try.

“I think I can be a success here,” she said. “I always do my best and I always think I can do better.”