TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Maciej Janikowski - trainer of Va Bank - October to December 2016 | Trainer Magazine | European Trainer Article Index

Sep 28

Sep 28 TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Maciej Janikowski - trainer of Va Bank - October to December 2016

Maciej janikowski has been training horses in Poland since 1969. after graduating from university – Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego – janikowski undertook an internship at Słu˙zewiec Racetrack and decided from there to become a trainer. He’s been running his stable in Warsaw for over 40 years now and has won the major races multiple times. The first success came in 1974, when czerkies won the Polish Derby and in the same season swept the Triple crown. in total, janikowski has trained four Derby winners and three winners of the Wielka Warszawska. in 2013, a yearling bay colt bred by airlie Stud was bought at Tattersalls in ireland to join janikowski’s stable. The son of archipenko from the family of dual Group 1 King’s Stand winner equiano had not drawn much attention at auction, selling for just ¤4,500. His co-owner janusz Zienkiewicz confirmed the horse was not more expensive because of the health issues he had throughout the sales. Named Va Bank, the colt showed a lot of talent from the first day his hooves hit the track. as a two-year-old he won three races. He extended his unbeaten record, winning five races the next season. among his major wins at three were the Nagrod The TRM Trainer of the Quarter award has been won by Maciej Janikowski. Maciej and his team will receive a selection of products from the internationallyacclaimed range of TRM supplements, as well as a bottle of fine Irish whiskey. WORDS: DOminika WłODaRczy PHOTOS: nagRODa PRezeSa Rulera, Polish Derby, St Leger (Polish Triple crown), and Wielka Warszawska. it was obvious there was no competition in Poland for the colt. Speculations about a possible start abroad began appear to by the end of 2015. Va Bank began his 2016 campaign in Poland with victories in the 2,000-metre Nagroda Golejewka and the 2,600-metre Nagroda Prezesa Totalizatora Sportowego, both for four-year-olds and up; and the 2,000-metre Nagroda Kozienic, for threeyear-olds and up. His last win was so impressive that the trainer and the owners had no other choice but to send the horse to Germany. it was not an easy decision to take this route with Va Bank. The expectations were very high, and it was not only the horse that was about to be tested. Two weeks earlier, recent French-bred Polish Derby winner caccini ran in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin and disappointed, finishing fifth out of six runners. caccini’s poor performance put the quality of Polish horses in doubt. But Va Bank did not disappoint. He added a victory in the Group 3 Preis Der Sparkassen Finanzgruppe to his impressive resume and was rated 113. it was a historical win for Poland, as the undefeated colt is the first ever Polish-trained and -owned horse to win a Group 3 event outside of the country. His outstanding performance made him known in europe as ‘Polish Frankel’ and proved his trainer has the knowledge and ability to condition a horse with such talent and potential. Maciej Janikowski with jockey Per-Anders Gråberg and co-owner Janusz Piotr Zienkiewicz CALPHORMINTM Va Bank is now owned in partnership with Barry irwin, the ceO of the Team Valor international, who bought a half-interest after the win in Germany, and irwin has agreed that Maciej janikowski will continue to train the colt

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This article appeared in - European Trainer, Issue 55, October to December 2016

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