Andover Hall enjoying superb start to NZ season
Andover Hall has enjoyed a terrific start to the 2019/20 New Zealand racing season with an incredible nine winners from 13 starters, including five individual winners recently over a 10 day period.
The winning roll for the champion North American trotting sire began on Show Day at Addington Raceway with the super promising 3-year-old, American Pride living up to his bloodlines with a smart win over a field of older, race winning horses.
Three-wide for the last 600m, the Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen trained blueblood showed plenty of determination to kick clear late and win by a length and a quarter.
A $60,000 Yearling Sale purchase, American Pride is out of a winning full sister to the NZ Trotter and Horse of the Year, I Can Doosit.
On the same day, the Ross Paynter trained Anditover opened his 4-year-old campaign on a winning note at Alexandra Park with a driving victory over the top of his rivals.
A winner at both two and three, Anditover is out of a half sister to the Group 1 place-getter Everybody Knows and is from the famed family of Allegro Agitato and Skyvalley.
The Nathan Williamson trained Andy Hall was then a devastating winner on debut at Wyndham on the 17th, storming home late, with ears pricked, to score by two and a quarter lengths, with a further seven and a quarter back to the third placed horse.
Out of the six-win race-mare Delcola, Andy Hall is a half to three winners, including the nine win Splash Cola.
Go On Andover was next up at Geraldine on the 23rd, with a bold front running win over 2,500m at just her second race-day start.
A daughter of the former Group 2 NZ Sires Stakes 2YO Trotters Championship winner, Continental Auto, Go On Andover is a homebred for Ronnie Dawe.
Rounding out the quintet of winners was the lightly raced 3-year-old gelding Quik Shot, whom saluted in a tight finish at Timaru on Sunday afternoon.
The Jack Harrington trained gelding is the first winner for his dam Margaritaville, a winning S J’s Photo half-sister to the dam of I Can Doosit.
The other winners in 2019/20 for Andover Hall include last season’s Northern Trotting Oaks runner-up Lady Be Good and the lightly race trio of B D Yasathon, Insist The Win and Palisade.
With just two small crops of racing age, Andover Hall is currently NZ’s leading sire of 3-year-old trotters and is placed third on the 4-year-old trotting sires premiership.