Curtain falls on Ladies In Red’s amazing career

Ladies In Red (Mach Three) is ready to begin life in the harness racing breeding barn with time officially called on the wonder mare’s racetrack career.

Owner-breeders Bill and Anne Anderson, in consultation with trainers Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin, made the decision to retire the million-dollar winner following her sixth placing in the Group 1 Golden Girl at Albion Park on July 20.

“We can’t ask her to do any more,” Anne said. “She’s been a fantastic mare for all of us.

“It’s time and we’re looking forward to the next stage now.”

The daughter of Mach Three’s career began on September 1, 2020 when she won the first in a sequence of nine-straight races that included the Group 1 Breeders Crown Series final for two-year-old fillies.

She would later claim the same feature for three-year-old fillies, with the Breeders Crown double providing two of her seven victories at the elite level. Other Group 1 triumphs included a Victoria Oaks and Vicbred final as a three-year-old, The Rising Sun and two Queen Of The Pacifics.

“The second Queen Of The Pacific that she won in November last year, that to me was the ultimate,” Anne said.

In all, Ladies In Red had 37 starts for 28 wins and banked $1,096,480 in prizemoney. Reinsman David Moran drove her in all but five of those races, winning 24 times with the daughter of Kabbalah Karen B.

The bay mare only ever missed the top two twice, being in the Miracle Mile qualifier at Menangle in March and at her final start in the Golden Girl two Saturdays ago.

Her career was nearly cut short in 2022 due to a serious hind leg injury that required major surgery, but she was back at the races late the next year and went on to have 10 more starts.

Bill Anderson said the Ladies In Red ride was a special one.

“She went 1.51.8 as a two-year-old and if you look at her time in Queensland the other night, she’s gone 1.51.8 as a six-year-old. She was pretty special as a baby,” he said.

“In June of 2020, we’d retired Poster Boy. We thought that was a terrific result for us and that’s the peak of what we’re going to get. And then three or four months later, this little mare comes out and does that.

“As everyone says, she’s plain but she’s so determined.”

The Andersons are yet to commit to a breeding partner for Ladies In Red, but remain excited by the horse’s next chapter.

“There’s still a couple in contention and now that we’ve announced the retirement, we’ll just have a serious look at what’s available,” Anne said.

by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria