Sir Andy leaves rivals gasping

Press, 10 July 1989, Page 29

Sir Andy leaves rivals gasping

By

JEFF SCOTT

Sir Andy surprised his connections with the impressive manner in which he defeated the C 3 and faster pacers in the Fesco N.Z. Exporters Handicap, the first leg of the T.A.B. double, at the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club’s meeting on Saturday evening.

Owners, Ron and Agnes Hudson. reinsman Anthony Butt, and trainer Derek Jones, all thought highly of the Honkin Andy gelding before Saturday’s showing, but he went up a few notches in the quartet's ratings following the win.

"I didn’t think he was that good to win like he did,” said Mr Hudson after Sir Andy exploded home from well down the field to win decisively by nearly three lengths. “Neither did I,” replied Butt on greeting Mr Hudson in the birdcage. Butt was also successful with White Horse Pride and Millie’s Brother on Saturday, taking his season’s tally to 55 wins, only two short of his seasonal best three years ago. “That was a real good run,” said trainer Jones. “That is the first time I’ve seen him race for me, but they said he went well at Nelson and Blenheim,” added the Templeton trainer. The full 2600 metres took a respectable 3:23.5, however the leaders ran their last 800 m in a sharp 58.4 seconds. Sir Andy must have completed this section in close to 57 seconds. This was the fifth win in 14 career starts for the brother to Liquid Lightning (1:57), and his third in four starts this season since joining the Jones stable. His earnings now stand at just under $20,000. Sir Andy, not for sale, will be a firm favourite to repeat over 3200 m in next Saturday’s C 3 and faster Countdown Foodmarkets Pace at the New Brighton meeting. He will go back another 10m in the handicap but this is unlikely to stop his winning run. The rising six-year-old is showing the benefit of patient handling earlier in his career by former trainer Richard Brosnan. Sir Andy was given a year off at the completion of his four-year-old racing after racing only 10 times.

Mascara, five months in foal to the Nero stallion Paulsboro, quinellaed the race for stock of the Little River-based Albatross stallion, Honkin Andy. She tried for a frontrunning win but could not withstand Sir Andy’s undeniable finish. Mayhem, which led out then trailed, fought on for third, a neck away, with the favourite, Gasthof, which settled last and 15 lengths off the leaders, a creditable fourth. Gasthof, which attempted to make up the deficit wide from the 700 m, was timed over his last 800 m in 56 seconds. Charming George battled on from the third line on the inner to finish next. Balonne sharp Balonne was untroubled to make a winning debut from Terry May’s Methven stable in the second leg of the T.A.B. double, the Lancaster Hotel Pace. The speedy Locarno gelding sprinted over his

opening quarter in 27 seconds to lead, eased the pace in the middle stages, then reeled off a final quarter in 28 seconds to hold the second favourite, Pachelbel, at bay comfortably by a length and a half. Trained until last month by Peter Robertson at West Melton, Balonne rated 2:1.2 for the mobile 2000 m,. and ran 57.5 seconds for his closing 800 metres. “I don’t know what he would run a quarter in if he had to. He got to the lead easy tonight,” said reinsman Ricky May. “But he pulled too hard after that. We have only been giving him slow jogging at home to keep him settled, apart from a couple of hoppled runs,” he said. Balonne first gave Addington racegoers a taste of his high speed when he pressured Dillon Dean through an opening quarter in a sensational 25.7 seconds during last season’s Lion Brown Rising Stars Three-Year-Old

Final. However Balonne suffered a fractured coffin bone during the race and was off the scene for the next 12 months. He was successful again, firstup in January, for Robertson.

Pachelbel, which settled three back on the outer and was sent forward to challenge the leader from the 450 m, beat the others just as easily for second. Scimitar, three back on the inner to the stright, fought on in a gap of 3i/ 2 lengths for third, shading Tai Lumber, which trailed but could not quicken. Anzus battled on from the fourth line to finish next, with Zola Bay, doing best of the back runners to finish a distant sixth.

New aquisition

White Horse Pride gave his new owners, Kenwood Bloodstock Agency, a quick return with an authoritative victory over 3200 m in class record time in the Loadlift Equipment Handicap Trot.

A newcomer this week to Jack Carmichael’s Templeton stable, White Horse Pride led over the last 1400 m and won untested by 2i/ 4 lengths. He returned a smart 4:16 for the extreme distance, 1.5 seconds inside Swinging Billy’s previous best by. a C2 trotter at Addington. The upstanding Game Pride gelding had won impressively at the trials on Wedneday and was firm in the betting, opening up the early favourite before lengthening a shade to wind up the second public elect. A four-year-old brother to a 1:59.8 trotter in North America, Game Pat, White Horse Pride was timed over his last 2000 m on Saturday in a smart 2:34.2, his last mile in 2:5.2 and his closing 800 m in 61.9. White Horse Pride was formerly owned by Mr and Mrs Ginger Woodhouse of Roxburgh, in partnership with Lauder Lodge Standardbreds.