Four-year-old WA-bred pacer Al Guerroro, described by his breeder, part-owner and trainer Kyle Anderson as a one-trick pony, boosted his earnings past the $100,000 mark when he gave another stylish frontrunning display to score an easy victory over Bettor Copagoodone and Blue Blazer in the 2130m Donate Now To Pacing For Pink Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“All his 12 wins have come from leading,” said the 33-year-old Anderson. “He is pretty one-dimensional, but it is not a bad dimension to have here at Gloucester Park. He is a one-trick pony but is still green in the head. If he draws badly, we will sit him up and teach him (how to come from behind).”
“The plan in this preparation was to work his way through the grades, and at the end of the preparation we could get an idea how he could measure up to Free-For-All grade. I’m not saying that he’s up to that class, but I think that he has proven that when he is in front, he can give them a bit of cheek.”
Al Guerrero, a handsome stallion, was favourite at $1.60 from the favourable barrier at No. 2 on Friday night and he was rated perfectly by Kyle Harper. He sprinted over the final 400m in 28.2sec. and rated 1.57.3 in scoring by 4m. This took his record to 40 starts for12 wins and eight placings for stakes of $108,306.
He is the last foal out of Armas Eclipse, an unraced Fully Loaded mare who was purchased by the Anderson family as a brood mare. Al Guerrero certainly has outperformed his siblings, with Anderson saying: “He is clearly streets ahead of the others who have not shown a ton of ability.”
Al Guerrero’s half-brothers have enjoyed moderate success. Ohoka Chief had 128 starts for three wins, 22 placings and $31,271; Call Me Ernie raced 114 times for 11 wins, 25 placings and $61,852; and Over Armed had 88 starts for three wins, 14 placings and stakes of $30,364.
Written by Ken Casellas | Photo Credit: Hamilton Content Creators