Tossie’s Son takes time

There was plenty to like about the way Tossie’s Son (Sir Lincoln) won at the Kurow harness racing meeting on Sunday.

Trained by Anne Marie Best and her son Jack, Tossie’s Son broke at the start losing a big stretch of ground before settling at the tail of the field. With a lap to run driver Sam Thornley got the five year old trucking in the outside running line. With 420 metres to run Tossie’s Son was moving and he improved four wide. In a slog up the straight the gelding toughed it out to win by three quarters of a length.

Tossie’s Son is the first foal out of Toscana Bromac (McArdle) which was trained by Anne Marie.

She paid good money for the mare because she’d won thirteen races with her half-brother Tijuana Bromac (Falcon Seelster), but Toscana Bromac didn’t measure up.

“I got sick of her and threw her out in the paddock. I didn’t even breed from her for a couple of years I was so over her,” she said.

Tossie’s Son qualified at Waterlea Raceway in Blenheim when he was two, so Sunday’s win has been a long time in the making.

“He’s had so many accidents, it’s been unbelievable. We would just bring him up to race, thinking we’ll be right this time then he’d do something stupid and we’d have to put him out again.”

In those days Anne Marie trained in Blenheim and raced horses in the Manawatu and Canterbury.

“I used to go up north quite a bit. It was a lot easier in those days getting on the boat at 2am and you’d travel overnight. It’s so much easier on their bodies and you know they’re not going to get dehydrated. I went to Manawatu, Kapiti Coast and even as far at Cambridge. When they cut some of the racing out in that area there wasn’t enough racing for me. I ended up coming down to Canterbury which isn’t easy when you haven’t got your own property.”

Consequently three years ago on the 2^nd October Anne Marie moved to Rolleston permanently where she and Jack train on Walkers Road at a property previously owned by blacksmith Derek Jones.

The property has five boxes but Anne Marie does a lot of paddock training.

The family has retained it’s Marlborough roots, owning a 52 hectare vineyard in Blenheim which was started from scratch thirty years ago and is looked after by their eldest son Adam.

“Jeremy (husband) and I started with a few acres and we developed it when we could afford it. In the last few years we’ve done very well.”

They produce Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay grapes which go to wine makers Pernod Ricard.

Anne Marie and Jack have now trained ten winners, nine of which have been trotters. So their win  with Tossie’s Son is their first with a pacer.

Trotting mare Make My Sundon (Sundon) has been the stable star winning six races for the partnership.

“She was bred by Wayne Jennes and is out of Make My Night (Majestic Son). Wayne had problems with his back so I ended up with all his horses. He’s been very good to me. He also bred Valley Star (The Pres) which won seven.”

Make My Night’s next foal a two year old chestnut colt, is by What The Hill and is called Up The Hill Tonight.

Anne Marie says she’s had a love for horses since she was a child.

“Dad (Noel Andrews) used to take me on the back of a hack down the beach. The faster he went the better it was. We didn’t have a lot of money and it wasn’t until Dad came down to Blenheim that we ended up with a horse called Adios Posy (Tarport Coulter). When I got to see her run I really got keen. I ended up going to cadet training when I was eighteen.”

She started stable life with her father Noel who held a license from 1984 -1994 and trained ten winners. His best was Hanover Showers (Worthy Del) which won six. His first winner was Valley Creek (Lordship) which won on both days of the June meeting in Nelson in 1984 for junior driver Greg Hope.

Anne Marie trained forty four winners in her own right between 1994 and 2021. Her first was Hanover Mae (Holmes Hanover) a daughter of Hanover Showers at Greymouth in December 1995.

Thirty year old Jack also holds a graduation drivers license and has driven one winner Bonnie Boy, (Ohoka Arizona) at the Kapiti Coast meeting in February 2019. He was trained by Anne Marie.

“He’s great with them. He can get a horse going and loves the gallopers as well. He went to pony club when he was seven but when he turned nine he said he didn’t want to do it any more. I asked him if he wanted to do harness racing and he said he would. I went to jump in the cart with him but he wanted to go by himself. When my boys were young I had to put them on the side of the cart with their little helmets on. You couldn’t do that now with health and safety.”

It clearly took a while for Tossie’s Son to get to the races but Anne Marie and Jack know more that most that like wine, it sometimes takes time.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink