RaceTime: Bettina and Kim Andersen are having their best year ever

After Saturday’s racing and My Fortune’s dominant win, their horses have now earned more than two million kroner in total this year. That makes them Denmark’s third most successful training partnership overall, and Bettina and Kim are set to beat their own earnings record from 2022 of 2.1 million kroner. The stable’s top scorer is, not surprisingly, Stald Klampenborg’s Derby runner-up King To Be.

Søren Jensen is also closing fast on the two million with earnings this year of 1,936,495.

By comparison, Scandinavia’s most successful trainer Niels Petersen has 60 horses in training at Øvrevoll, and the horses he has in training have so far earned around 12.7 million Norwegian kroner (8.7 million Danish kroner) in Scandinavia this season.

PLENTY OF SECONDS.

Bettina Andersen and her husband, the former champion jockey Kim Andersen, can be well satisfied with the 2026 racing season as it has gone so far.

At the same time it is only natural if they are a little frustrated that it has not amounted to even more.

Twice King To Be (Moohaajim) has been very close to a big-race win. Missing (Red Cactus) was second in the Svenskt Derby, and Silver Legend (Dark Angel) has twice been second in Listed races, on both occasions beaten by Mount Kilimanjaro (Siyouni).

King To Be was second in the Svenskt 2000 Guineas at Bro Park, where he was beaten ”by a nose” by the now deceased Beethoven (Goken).

And in the Danish Derby he looked the winner for a long way. But right at the finish King To Be was caught by Cosmopolitan (Make Believe) and beaten by half a length.

So Bettina did not get her first Derby winner this year. The 200-odd shareholders in King To Be were denied the experience of greeting a Derby winner in the winner’s circle and the celebrations that go with the victory.

And the stallion Moohaajim did not get his third Derby winner in only four years.

Most recently King To Be was second, after a very unlucky race, in the well-endowed Breeders’ Trophy Classic at Bro Park.

That was won by Bruce Almighty (Appel Au Maitre), who was raised to 87 in the handicap after the win. And he is now the highest rated Scandinavian-bred 3-year-old.

King To Be currently stands on a handicap mark of 83.

Wins in those three races instead of seconds would have increased King To Bes prize money this year by a good three-quarters of a million Danish kroner.

Even so, there is already 776,958 kroner in King To Bes account this year.

VERY UNLUCKY AND VERY ANNOYING.

The defeats in the Danish Derby and the Breeders’ Trophy Classic in particular rankle with Bettina and Kim, and on both occasions a horse that lost its rider was a contributing factor.

”If King To Be had not lost lengths when Icefall lost his jockey in the Danish Derby, I do not think Cosmopolitan would have caught him”, Bettina said.

”And in the Breeders’ Trophy Classic it was Sir Brian who lost his rider and was to blame for King To Be losing lengths. Then he had a very long trip in the eighth row of potatoes”, as Kim put it.

”But that is racing”, Bettina and Kim stressed. ”It is no excuse. Those are the rules of the game. Now and then you are out of luck”.

Bettina said that King To Bes next start will be in the Breeders’ Prize Classic at Øvrevoll, and if he is still fit after a long season, he will also run in the Danish St. Leger.

THE SUCCESS OF STALD KLAMPENBORG.

King To Be is owned by Stald Klampenborg, which is a syndicate stable, and he was bought at the Scandinavian Open Yearling Sale at York Stutteri in September 2024 for 125,000 kroner.

A good buy. For several reasons. Not only because King To Be is an outstanding horse, but because the idea behind syndicate stables is gaining ground.

And King To Bes success will undoubtedly whet the appetite of many who think it is too expensive to own a racehorse on their own, but would like to be involved as owners even if only with a smaller share.

”In our stable we have only two horses with a single owner, and they are Missing, owned by Michael Stounberg, and Silver Legend, owned by Light Valley Stud”, Bettina said.

”The other horses have several owners, and many of them visit us in the stable on Tuesdays, just as many gather here after the racing at Klampenborg.”

”We are interested in getting more horses into our ”syndicate stable”, and we hope it works out in connection with the Scandinavian Open Yearling Sale at York Stutteri on the 18th of this month, where we plan to buy more horses that can be offered in shares”.

MISSING MUST PRIORITISE DIRT.

The other 3-year-old in Bettina Andersen’s stable who has had success this year on the Jägersro dirt is Missing, by the Swedish Derby winner Red Cactus.

Missing won early in the season at Jägersro and was later second in the Svenskt Derby, beaten by Doc Holliday, but ahead of Bruce Almighty.

”The races this season have shown us clearly that Missing does not feel at home on turf, but prefers dirt just like his sire Red Cactus, and therefore he must never run on turf again”, Kim stressed.

Missings next start will be in a well-endowed 3-year-old handicap on Sunday at Jägersro over 2,200 metres.

SEVERAL GOOD HORSES IN THE STABLE.

Silver Legend (Dark Angel) has won two races at Klampenborg this year. The Klampenborg Classic and the Sensommer Cup.

But his best efforts are probably the two seconds in the Listed races Danish Jockey Club Cup and Pokalløb. As mentioned, beaten on both occasions by Mount Kilimanjaro (Siyouni).

In all, Silver Legend has already earned 270,000 kroner this year.

”He is a lovely, intelligent horse, just good” Kim reckons, and Bettina added that Silver Legends next start will be at Øvrevoll in the Arnfinn Lunds Minneløp on 27 September over 1,600 metres.

Two of the other older horses who have also done well this year and have run often are Lucien (Hurricane Red) and the stable’s senior citizen Sandtastic (Footstepsinthesand).

”Now 6-year-old Lucien must be just about every owner’s dream”, Bettina said. ”He has so far earned more than 1.2 million kroner in his career, and he has a place strike rate of 64”.

Lucien has lately shown great ability over the shorter trips, and he is now up to a handicap mark of 87.

This year it has produced a win in the Stratford-On-Avon Ærespræmie, where he beat his stable companion Sandtastic, and a fine second in the Göteborgs Stora Pris behind Elkær Stutteri’s Grey Tycoon (Dark Angel).

12-year-old Sandtastic has had a fantastic career. In 87 starts so far it has produced 22 wins and earnings of more than two million kroner.

And he is so far Bettina Andersen’s winning-most horse.

This year there have been no wins, but Sandtastic has been placed several times. In his two most recent starts he has, however, been unplaced.

So perhaps age is beginning to tell a little after all. Sandtastic has been as high as a handicap mark of 93. Now he is on 82.

”Sandtastic thrives on being in training. He is a happy horse, and he decides for himself when he wants to stop”, Bettina said.

Golden Dreams (Girolamo) has also done well this year. It has produced two wins. In the Breeders’ Cup Trial and in the Gentofte Kommunes Ærespræmie, where he beat Grey Tycoon and Lucien.

”But together with the owners we have decided to sell him”, Bettina said.

MY FORTUNE BACK IN TOP FORM.

Last year’s winner of the Dansk Breeders’ Cup, the Breeders’ Trophy Mile and the Skandinavisk Grand Prix, My Fortune (Appel Au Maitre), has been through major throat surgery, which is why he did not come to the races until the middle of July this year.

After two starts at Klampenborg, My Fortune showed on Saturday in a Class 1 handicap – on soft ground, which he loves – that he is back in top form.

With Oliver Wilson in the saddle he beat Sea Love (Sea The Moon) and Sir Jeffrey (Hunter’s Light) by nine lengths.

After the race My Fortune has been raised to 91 in the handicap – the highest ever.

His next start will be in the Arnfinn Lunds Minneløp at Øvrevoll on 27 September, and he is then expected to run in the Skandinavisk Grand Prix, which he won last year after a thrilling duel with the now deceased Good Fortune (Appel Au Maitre).

EXCITING 2-YEAR-OLDS.

Bettina and Kim’s stable holds several promising 2-year-olds, and it has already produced a big-race win, when La Belle Appelée (Appel Au Maitre) won the Produce Stakes.

La Belle Appelée is out of one of the best horses Bettina has trained, the Al Shemali daughter My Jamil.

As a 2-year-old she won the Danish Criterium and the Dansk Galops Auktionsløb, and the year after she became Bettina Andersen’s first Classic winner when she won the Danish 2000 Guineas.

”La Belle Appelée was unplaced most recently in the Danish Criterium. ”The very soft ground was probably not something that suited her”, Kim said.

”But she is a strong little filly, a real racehorse”.

First Lady (Red Cactus) is a full sister to Red Mantel, who last year won the Jockeyklubbens Auktionslöpning at Jägersro. First Lady, who was bred at Stutteri Hjortebo, made her debut on Saturday at Klampenborg with a third place in a race with only three runners.

”The future must show whether she, like her sire and other offspring, is best on dirt”, both Bettina and Kim pointed out.

My Fighter (Al Shemali) was bred by Berner Olsen and is out of the Pompøs Cup winner Miss Valuev and a half-brother to Silverflame (Binary File), who was second to King Ferdinand (Elusive City) in the Jydsk Derby in 2023.

My Fighter was third in the Produce Stakes, but unplaced in the Danish Criterium.

”He has been gelded and he has a lot of talent, but he is also still very green”, Kim stressed.

The Hunter’s Light son All On Red was bred at Stutteri Outback and has yet to run.

THREE CLASSIC WINS.

Bettina has won three Classics. The Danish 2000 Guineas in 2021 with My Jamil, the Mowerinaløb in 2024 with A Lady’s Dream and the Danish St. Leger in 2024 with My Fortune.

MANY YEARS BEHIND THEM.

Bettina and Kim both have great experience in racing. And they have gained a deep understanding of horses.

As Kim says: ”You have to let horses be horses. It is not a factory”.

And Bettina adds: ”They must be treated well, and all our horses must have the same good care. And then we are perfectionists and attach importance to everything being 100 % in order”.

Bettina and Kim would like owners who are willing to invest in more young horses.

”The quality has to be high”, they say in unison.

”We need horses that can do something. The competition is very strong today”.