Swedish Apprentice Rider Nordin Looking for First U.S. Win
At 0h15, on February 12, 2022 • By GULFSTREAM
In a sport defined by patterns and trends, Emma Nordin is moving in the right direction.
The 20-year-old native of Sweden, an apprentice jockey in her home country, made her North American debut Jan. 20 at Gulfstream Park, finishing third by 1 ½ lengths at odds of 19-1. She has ridden once since, beaten a neck at 7-1 by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano despite a heady rail-skimming ride Feb. 5 at Gulfstream.
“It was very close. Of course, I wanted to win,” Nordin said. “But riding against these jockeys is such a great experience. Second is good, too, I guess. Not too bad.”
Both Nordin’s races have come aboard Super Super Stable’s Graceful Kitten, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Gulfstream-based Amador Sanchez, for whom she has spent the winter galloping. Nordin is named in two races on the all-weather Tapeta Saturday – Happy’s Nice Candy for trainer Andy Williams in Race 4 and Sanchez’s Bach in Race 7.
If the pattern continues, Nordin could be sitting on her first winner.
“I’m very excited. Both horses have a good chance to win,” Nordin said. “It would be very cool to actually get that first win here at Gulfstream.”
Nordin began her love affair with horses at the age of 7, when she and younger sister, Elin, competed on the pony race circuit. She started racing Thoroughbreds as an amateur in 2016, earning her biggest win in April 2019 on Soldier Blue in the Bronshandicap at Bro Park, located approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Stockholm. The horse was owned by Nordin and trained by her mother, Annica.
“I think it was always my dream [to be a jockey] since I started with pony racing,” Nordin said. “It’s very exciting. I love it.”
Nordin went from amateur to apprentice in 2020 during her senior year of high school and got off to a fast start with four wins, three seconds and a third in her first 12 mounts.
“I’ve been riding quite a few winners in Sweden,” she said. “In Sweden you can be an apprentice for up to 70 wins or four years if you don’t get that many wins.”
With Swedish racing off for the winter, Nordin reached out to a friend who exercises horses in South Florida about coming to the U.S. to keep her skills sharp during the hiatus. She landed with Sanchez, who has 30 stalls in Barn 21.
“I had like four months to do something else. I talked to my friend, who was riding here, if he could help me just come on vacation and ride a little bit, and that’s how I started.”
