Promising youngster does hardyards
Story By by Peter Staples
Tuesday, 19 February 2008:  | | Van Hardyards finishes too strongly at Tasman Park |
Van Hardyards, having only his second start, came from near last to defeat Brittle Express and Lavaca in the Southern Cross Ball 2YO maiden ate over 1100 metres.
The colt's trainer Terry Roles and owner-breeder Anthony Mcdonnell were resigned to the fact that he would probably still be a maiden after the race after he suffered early interference that relegated him to the tail of the field.
“When he got back so far I didn't think he had a chance but he showed a lot of character to come from that far back and still win,” Roles said.
“He's only a small horse but he has loads of ability and that showed today,” he said.
Mcdonnell and his wife Michelle bred Van Hardyards (x Al Hareb) from their broodmare Snowball Express (x Raffindale) that has produced only one other winner, Plums, that won a North-Eastern Queensland Cup.
Mcdonnell, a solicitor who resides in Sydney, is no stranger to racing horses in Tasmania.
“I raced The Anteater with Terry and that was our first venture to Tasmania but I was introduced to the state by a good friend of mine Col Charteris who had a horse called Paris Rhyme with Terry,” Mcdonnell said.
“Terry suggested we come down to watch the horse race today, so he's a pretty good judge of whether a horse can win, although we weren't feeling very confident soon after the start,” he said.
Mcdonnell has experienced many of the ups and downs racing throws at owners but he is understandably upbeat about this colt.
“This one appears to really want to be a racehorse and trust me, I've a few that haven't,” he said.
Mcdonnell explained how the colt came by his race name.
“At work I keep telling the staff that I'm always doing the hard yards so that came up when we were submitting names.”
“Van Guard (leading from the front) was the other name so we put them together, submitted Van Hardyards and that's the one we got,” he said.
Roles said Van Hardyards would most likely be tipped out for a spell and possibly return to tackle one of the two feature races in Hobart in April-May and possibly the Sires Produce Stakes near the end of the season in Launceston.
|
