Andretti for Sydney

Press, 19 April 1982, Page 28

Andretti for Sydney

Special correspondent >.•' Auckland Subject to a satisfactory veterinary test Andretti will next be showing his worth to racegoers in Australia. His sale to a client of George Way’s stable, at Gosford, was confirmed after he ran at Ellerslie on Saturday. The testing of Andretti, believed to be principally for, fertility, will be done today and the first big race set him in Australia will be in Brisbane on May 5. Exactly how much the Australian will pay for Andretti has not been disclosed but it is almost certainly sufficient to make the colt one of the highest-priced New Zealand thoroughbreds. The trainer, John Thurston, of Cambridge, would not be drawn into giving the amount but hinted at something approaching $300,000 — "between $220,000 and $300,000” was as much as he would say. Thurston, who shares the ownership with a Tuakau farmer, Mr Ray Marsh, bought Andretti at'Wrightson Bloodstock’s Waikato Yearling Sale for' a mere $6250. With his success in Saturday’s Ellerslie Sires’ Produce Stakes the colt brought his stake earnings to $65,365. So even without the windfall from Australia his owners had struck a bargain. All told, Andretti has had 11 starts. The only time he

finished out of the money was when fifth in the Wakefield Challenge Stakes- at Trentham. He was first orsecond past the post in everyother attempt but was put back from second to third in one of them, the Breeders’ Plate at Ellerslie, for causing interference to the winner, McGinty. Argument on which is the better, McGinty or Andretti, has been stimulated by the Cambridge colt's success on Saturday. Andretti is certainly exceptional but the fact is that on the two occasions he ran up against McGinty, each time at level weights, the other horse won convincingly. Andretti would have been just as unlucky ,to lose the Ellerslie. Sires’ . Produce Stakes, although his winning margin was only a neck over Anchor Inn. The rider of Andretti, Earl Harrison, employed clever tactics, sending Andretti to a commanding lead once around the home turn. But he nearly gave the race to Anchor Inn, which came late at a great rate. Harrison had no time to get Andretti going again. Had the result not gone his way he would have found himself, very likely, facing a charge of over-confidence. Anchor Inn. trying for a hat-trick of wins, was again greatly impressive in the way he came home. Clear a

little earlier and he would have won. There was much merit, also, in the performance of ’ Aulyn (third) and Cariere (fourth), two good fillies which will be leading contenders for Avondale’s Leopard Classic on May 1. • The trainer of Anchor Inn, Bill Sanders, also prepares Loughanure and Bound To Honour, 'so he went very close indeed to picking up the three main prizes on the Auckland third-day programme. Bound To Honour showed, for the umpteenth time, her gameness and durability when, winning the Great Northern Oaks in a hard finish with Crackapon. This latest was Bound To Honour’s twenty-second race of the season, during which she has secured six wins, three seconds and five thirds. Bound To Honour took a little while to settle in Saturday's 2400m' race but she came into the last 800 travelling well in seventh or eighth place. She sprinted wide to the leaders and almost as soon as they began the run home it was clear she would be the one to beat. Crackapon had shaken off Pride of Rosewood to lead with some 200 m to go but she was joined almosf straight away by Bound To Honour. The two of them had a good battle home which Bound to Honour won by a neck.