Chookie’s Girl leads off treble for Andertons
TALENTED but quirky mare Chookie’s Girl headed a hometrack treble for trainers Brian and Shane Anderton at Wingatui yesterday.
The Raise The Flag 6yrold did not let her customary slow start stop her from rounding up her rating 62 class opposition to go on to a highly impressive victory over the 2200m of race 1 for rider Courtney Barnes.
The sight of the mare, raced by the estate of prominent former Otago and Southland racing personality, the late Val Christophers, missing the jump would have been nothing new for her backers.
It is also a sight all too familiar to the Anderton stable, which has tried almost everything to get the promising stayer to ping out of the gates with the rest of the field.
“She is a very nice horse, but she has got to learn to jump,” Brian Anderton said.
“We have done a lot of work with her, but she still hasn’t got it right yet.”
“She is a funny thing — she goes into her box at a 100 miles an hour but she just walks out.
“We will keep working on it and hopefully she gets the hang of things.”
The Andertons think enough of Chookie’s Girl that they were left wondering whether the mare should have been nominated for the New Zealand Cup after her win yesterday.
“We could have put in a nomination for the cup because she will go all day,” Brian Anderton said.
“And she is a bigtrack horse, so Riccarton would be ideal for her.”
Three races later, the Anderton’s consistent miler, Raise You Ten, broke through for his first win since March of 2018 when winning race 4, yesterday’s 1600m feature.
The second win in the Anderton’s treble with the stock of their White Robe Lodge sire, Raise The Flag, was due reward for the 7yrold running some excellent races in the leadup to yesterday’s meeting. Raise You Ten had run topfour placing since his previous victory, including a third in the listed Great Easter Stakes and a second in the listed Hazlett Stakes.
Corey Campbell’s 1kg claim took the Raise The Flag galloper’s weight down to 55.5kg, which was the key to breaking the consistent galloper’s run of near misses, Brian Anderton said.
“He has been going very well, but he has had to have carried very big weights. He had 60kg in his last two starts and 62kg before that.
Raise You Ten lengthened his career distance range to 1800m in his laststart third at Gore.
The Anderton camp has resolved to try the horse over more ground than yesterday’s 1600m journey.
“Talking to Shane on the way home from the races, we decided 1600m is his best distance, but if he can try him over more ground it will be good for his career.”
The third leg of the Anderton’s treble with the stock of Raise The Flag came when Campbell rode Shaker to win over 1600m in race 5.
Riverton trainers Kelvin and Aimee Tyler’s promising 5yrold Dr Velocious brought up a hattrick of wins by winning the race.
Authentic held off a late challenge by favourite Tiz the Law to win the Kentucky Derby yesterday at Churchill Downs and give Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a sixth win in the race, Reuters reports.
Authentic, ridden by John Velazquez, set the early pace and managed to maintain his speed down the stretch in the 11/4 mile classic, which was held without spectators due to the Covid19 pandemic.