What The Hill quinella in Listed 3YO feature

Dylan Ferguson’s training and driving skills have come of age. The win tonight (28. Apr) with Lovemeto (What The Hill) at Alexandra Park in Auckland in the $75,000 Listed NZB Standardbred Harness Million for three-year-old trotters provided the proof.

“It’s a big thrill. We’ve had a plan in place for a long time for him to win this race. To get here was a big thrill and to knock it off was even better,” Ferguson told Trackside presenter Nicole Sims.

Leading from off the gate, Ferguson had cool control of the race from the start, and it was clear throughout the 2200 metre journey that the talented three-year-old was loving his work.

In the end Lovemeto won easily from Kiss And Run, pulling out a quinella for the super stallion What The Hill – the leading sire of three-year-old trotters in New Zealand. The winning margin was one and a quarter lengths.

“One thing I’ve liked about this horse is his will to be there. His attitude to being a racehorse is second to none. He’s the first one that wants to be worked every day. Throughout his career he’s got better and better and his work since last week was top notch.”

Despite the great performance, the time of 2-45.5 was well outside the 2200 metre mobile record for three-year-old trotters. At 2-43.0 it’s held by Royal Aspirations (Monarchy).

LOVEMETO REPLAY

Ferguson trains Lovemeto in partnership with racing legend Graeme Rogerson who also has a share in him, along with Australians Merv and Meg Butterworth. The partnership also owns smart galloper Sharp ‘N’ Smart, which has won six races including the New Zealand Derby and has earned in excess of three million dollars in stakes.

Of Lovemeto, Ferguson said “This horse has been with us all the way. The owners have been patient and they’ve been rewarded,” he said.

Underpinning the result was a quinella for the Woodlands Stud dual hemisphere shuttle stallion, What The Hill.

Both Lovemeto and Kiss And Run are from the son of What The Hill’s first New Zealand crop, which after the running of the rich Listed sales series for three-year-old trotters has helped nudged the burgeoning trotting stallion to the top of the three-year-old sires rankings.

Interestingly both of the first two homes are out of daughters of champion French sire, Love You. The cross has provided What The Hill with a third of his nine NZ winners at this early stage of his career, hardly surprising given the explosion of Anglo-European matings and its success in the international trotting markets.

In North America, What The Hill finds himself inside the Top 20 on the All Age North American Trotting Sires list for money won which is no mean feat with essentially only his first two crops of racing age out and earning (3 and 4YO’s). Similar to his current New Zealand success, What The Hill’s 3YO crop is on fire at this early stage of the North American season sitting third behind International Moni and Walner.

For complete Alexandra Park race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink