Aardies Express dominates in Listed Harness 7000

Friday night (Sep. 16) at Addington Raceway saw the Steve and Amanda Telfer-trained Aardies Express (Always B Miki) announce herself as a superstar harness racing filly in the making.

A week removed from a fresh-up effort that saw her dismantle the best of her sex, the Southland Oaks winner repeated the dose, this time in the $40,000 New Zealand Sires Stakes Listed Harness 7000.

It was win number eight from just her ninth race day start and the ease in which she dispatched a quality field of three-year-olds was punctuated by a 1980m time only .3 of a second outside the national record.

It was the sort of win that suggests we may be witnessing something pretty special unfolding before our eyes, something you get the feeling those involved at the Telfer barn have known for a very long time.

All the talk of cat and mouse tactics went out the window early when Ben Hope found the pegs with Mossdale Ben off the mobile, only to look up and see an assertive Tim Williams barreling his charge forward to take control.

From there he controlled the race, and the pair never gave anything else a chance with highly regarded Donmaro understandably finding it hard to make ground despite enjoying a beautiful one-one sit.

“We wanted to let the handbrake off a little bit tonight and had probably wrapped her up a little bit so far,” said her driver Tim Williams to Nigel Armstrong of Harness Racing Unhinged post-race.

“Steve didn’t wasn’t to get outsprinted and felt she is probably stronger than she is speedy. She was happy in front and just minded her own business and bowled along nice and did it pretty easy to be fair.

“I think she has learnt a lot; she is a lot stronger this time in and has really learnt what it’s all about which makes my job pretty easy,” said Williams.

Five and a half lengths separated Aardies Express from second which went to the Greg and Nina Hope trained Mossdale Ben, with the Rodger Austin trained Donmaro a further three and a half lengths away in third.

AARDIES EXPRESS REPLAY

The mile rate of 1:54.4 had the field coming in at intervals, leaving little doubt as to the filly that will head the markets come the bigger assignments later in the spring.

They will include the G1 Nevele R Fillies final on Cup Day, and the G1 New Zealand Oaks on December 4th with the 2600m of the time-honoured classic looking to be right up her alley.

The win was also part of a race to race double for the Williams/Stonewall combination who have been in hot form since the resumption of Spring racing this month.

A race earlier, Williams guided the bonny mare, All American Lover (American Ideal) to victory from a back mark of 30m in a fresh up state.

She had been unsighted on race day since finishing second behind The Falcon the inaugural $100,000 Country Cups Final at Addington in April.

With the better class mares’ races struggling to get off the ground in Canterbury of late, the Telfer’s were forced to line the daughter of American Ideal up against mostly race hardened opposition and give them a fair start under the conditions.

The four-year-old showed plenty of courage to find the lead and fend off the challenges of a fast-finishing Dashing Major and No Time Like Now.

ALLAMERICANLOVER REPLAY

In doing so she gave her New Zealand Cup aspirations a serious boost with the mare likely to see her ranking of 25^th improve significantly as a result of her tenacious performance.

“It was a good effort first up off the 30m which is never easy,” said Williams.

“She is just a lovely horse who tries hard, and her record suggests she doesn’t go many bad ones and she’s just another one who makes my job pretty easy,” he said.

Allamericanlover paced the 2600m journey in 3:14.1 from the stand with a blistering 55.5 last 800m. The win was the ninth of her career from just 17 starts.

For complete race results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink