My Moment’s Now reaches double figures

It’s not uncommon to see a standardbred win 10 races, after all, it used to be the metric by which you were allowed to partake in New Zealand’s greatest race.

The longevity of the trotter has seen plenty of square gaiters eclipse the mark, a handful have done it in one harness racing season, the likes of Sundees Son (Majestic Son) & Bolt for Brilliance (Muscle Hill) in 2021, Monbet (Love You) in 2016 and I Can Doosit (Muscles Yankee) in 2012 come to mind in recent years.

The common link with all of them is the fact they are geldings.

Fillies & Mares trots make up less than 2% of all trotting races held in a single season, which is why achieving 10 wins as a trotting mare in this country is something to be celebrated.

The Matt Purvis trained My Moment’s Now (Andover Hall) joined the exclusive club when she took out the Hydroflow Handicap Trot at Addington Raceway last Friday night (Aug. 19).

She joins the likes of Habibti, Dark Horse, Splash Cola, Zsa Zoe, Dragon Lady, Superbowlcheerleader, Kincaslough, and Escapee as some of the few mares to have eclipsed the 10-win barrier in the last decade.

It completed a remarkable turnaround after a poor run of form saw her ever so close to being retired to the broodmare paddock.

“12 months ago, we were very close to putting her in the broodmare band as her form was that bad and she just continued to gallop and gallop in her races for no reason,” said her co-breeder/owner, John Purvis.

“We gave her a month in the paddock and Matt said he thought she might be starting to feel her normal self again. I already had her booked to go to the stud, but we pulled the pin on that, and here we are,” he said.

MY MOMENTS NOW REPLAY

Life would be so much easier if horses could talk but giving the mare time and listening to what she was able to tell them through her body language has resulted in seven wins for the season from just 17 starts.

Her most recent was one of her most dominant, even if it was in a small field, and she had some luck in the running with race favourite, Mataderos (Dream Vacation), galloping. My Moments Now still had to run past the former open class star in Enghien (Love You) who commentator Matt Cross exclaimed to be a $1.40 shot as he found the front with a lap to go.

“The way the race panned out we thought we might be a chance of running second behind Enghien but when you’ve been away for as long as he has it will take a bit of racing before he gets back to his best,” said Purvis.

The stellar vein of form has My Moment’s Now rated as the third highest trotting mare in the country behind She Reigns (Monarchy) (87) and Gold Chain (Muscle Hill) (82). Without the regular opportunity to race her own sex, the handicaps will start to become tougher and possibly force her to early retirement, as is the case with many of our best trotting girls.

“That would be a huge jump from what she is racing now to taking on horses of Sundees Son’s caliber, but we will just let her do the talking. I won’t dismiss it, but I think it’s probably unlikely.

“We have a big decision to make next season as to whether we carry on racing or send her to stud.

“There’s gradually more starting to come through but to have regular fillies and mare’s races would be great. There is one next month at Oamaru which we would like to have a crack at, but we wish there were more,” he said.

The Jasmyns Gift is a new Group Three feature for trotting mares on the revamped racing calendar with head offices conceding the trotting mares are bereft of the opportunity to compete for black type against their own sex.

There has been some progress with the likes of a Group One for two-year-old trotting fillies added to the calendar along with the bolstering of the New Zealand Trotting Oaks to Group One status which will see it become the first of its kind for trotting females in New Zealand when it is run in November.

There is a roadmap in place to see a Group One mares trot in the future with a Group Two feature recently announced as being added to the calendar for Addington Raceway on the same day as the New Zealand Trotting Oaks (25^th).

Rome wasn’t built in a day and the same can be said for My Moment’s Now who has taken some time to develop despite having raced as a juvenile.

“I think that’s the Andover Hall in her, she just needed time and we’ve tried to give her that and try and spread her races. I bred her to Andover Hall to be a broodmare because of the job he had done in North America and Scandinavia and to hopefully try and add a bit of size. She started off as a two-year-old but has just started to fill out into her frame now.

“We started off with the family when Matt leased Moment of Truth (Sundon) back in the day which was his first horse, and he had a great heart. We had bred this mare before Oscar Bonavena came along and she was the last foal, so we are very happy to have a mare like her for the broodmare band when it is all over,” he said.

Purvis joined his good mate Harry Webber in breeding from My Moment’s Now’s dam, Now’s The Moment (Yankee Jolter) back in 2010 when he bred the five-win Love You gelding, I’ve Got This.

It has proved a prudent one with the pair breeding glamour trotter, Oscar Bonavena (Majestic Son), and selling him for big money to Mark Purdon and Chris Ryder.

The Moment family is one steeped in the history of the trotting annals of the studbook with the likes of champions Take A Moment and Stig as well as the National Trot winning mare, Quite A Moment descending from Nakaia (Crockett – Morning Haze).

Now’s The Moment has been as good of a producer as any in this line and sits just two wins shy of reaching her century for wins from her progeny.

It’s a mark she should eclipse with her final two foals destined for some big assignments over the spring and summer carnival and would be a fitting reward for the patience Purvis and Webber have shown in recent times.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink