Danica unearths another potential racing star
The 2016-17 season was by her own standards below par for Danica Guy, but the emergence of a filly named Astor may be a sign of what’s ahead.
Astor provided the last of Danica’s six wins from 62 raceday starters last season when she won at Hastings in July and opened her trainer’s new season account with another stylish performance at Taupo on Friday.
From her early two-year-old days Astor has shown huge natural talent, with wins in her two spring trials and a debut third last November.
That result was actually below expectations for her trainer and owner Gary Harding, but disappointment was quickly followed by dismay when Astor was seriously lame in a hind leg.
Subsequent diagnosis revealed a hairline fracture to the tibia bone in a hind leg, but thankfully confinement and careful management over the next few months effected a full recovery.
Astor returned to competition with a win over 800 metres at Hastings and backed that up to win just as easily over 1100 metres at Taupo.
Her win was in fact the third by a Harding-owned filly in the same NZB Insurance Pearl Series race, following in the tradition of Fix in 2012 and Bounding in 2013.
They both became stars, Fix as the NZB Filly of the Year and Bounding winning amongst other races the Gr. 1 Railway Stakes.
Now it’s Astor’s turn to step up and to the feature race stage, with the Gr. 3 Gold Trail Stakes at Hastings next spring agenda.
‘‘From the time she won at Hastings last month the Gold Trail has been the race we’re aiming her at,’’ says Danica.
‘‘Taupo was part of that plan, so it was good to see her step up in distance and win so well again.
‘‘She’s a lovely filly and has always shown a lot. We could have done without the injury she suffered in her first start, but that’s all behind her and now we’re looking forward to what’s ahead.’’ month on her