Our Way 1
INTERVIEW BY SOFIA ZETTERMAN PHOTO GUSTAV GRÄLL Ö
rjan Kihlström climbs onto the sulky for over 1,500 starts a year, often behind a Menhammar horse. He won Elitloppet (The Elite Race) in 2003 with From Above, the prestigious Prix d’Amerique in 2014 with Maharajah and the 2018 Swedish Trotting Derby with Who’s Who – three generations from Menhammar. The timing that led to the star driver becoming known as Jack-in-the-Box has so far resulted in over 6,000 victories, and Kihlström is still driven by winning. “My GREATEST trotting moments have been experienced with Menhammar horses” D ÖRJAN KIHLSTRÖM AGE: born 1962 FAMILY: two sons JOB: Trotting driver STARTS: over 44,100 WINS: 363 as a trainer, over 6,381 as a driver PRIZE MONEY WON: approx. SEK 800 million FAVOURITE RACE: Elitloppet is always really special 12 OUR WAY 12 OUR WAY MENHAMMAR espite the fact that he is without a doubt one of the fastest drivers in the world, Örjan Kihlström makes a calmer than average impression, and perhaps it is that particular energy that horses pick up on when he takes the reins. He himself claims to be more adept at communicating with animals than with people. “The voice and hands are my means of communication. I read the horse through its ears, eyes and body language,” says Kihlström, who has been named Driver of the Year no less than eight times. THIS IS OF COURSE a record and he has also been inducted into the Nordic Trotting Hall of Fame. Örjan Kihlström is counted among the world’s foremost trotting drivers. With over