Six-year-old gelding Antero, winner of six minor races on country tracks from his first 56 starts, has turned the corner with a vengeance and he has blossomed under the care of Gary Hall Snr and his ten starts for the master trainer have produced five wins, three seconds, a fourth and a sixth placing, all at Gloucester Park, to take his career record to 11 wins, 24 placings and $109,212 in stakes.
Antero, favourite at $2.30, set a solid pace and won the 2130m Direct Trades Supply Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night by a half-length from $41 chance Roman Art, who rattled home from ninth at the bell. Walsh ($7.50) trailed the pacemaker all the way and finished third.
The victory completed a winning treble for star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr, who was successful earlier in the night with Wildwest and Matai Geordie.
“Antero has really found his rhythm and is flying,” said Hall Jnr. “He had a really bad quarter crack abscess blow out of his heel about two months ago, and ever since has been going super. He always used to go a bit roughly for all his trainers, but now that problem has been cleared up.
“Farrier Larry Boag has kept an eye on the problem hoof, and the horse now races with a bar shoe. He is probably going as good as he ever has and probably better than anyone thought he would go.”
Antero, who is owned by Jodie Gray, is the first foal out of Adda My Way, who had 47 starts for seven wins, ten placings and $32,968. Antero’s maternal granddam Rich And Sassy had 56 starts for 13 wins, 20 placings and $77,521.
Rich And Sassy’s full-brother Rich And Spoilt was a star performer before becoming a highly successful sire. Rich And Spoilt had 42 starts for 20 wins, 14 placings and stakes of $301,630. He won the Pearl for two-year-olds in March 1999, the Caduceus Club Classic and State Sires Series as a three-year-old as well as finishing second to Talladega in the WA Derby and second to Seelster Sam in the Australian Derby. Then, as a four-year-old, he finished a nose second to Seelster Sam in the Golden Nugget.
by Ken Casellas