Not often is a trainer happy after a horse races poorly, but Bob Stewart - at least now in retrospect - is thankful for Lady Andover’s lackluster performance in the Delvin Miller Memorial in July at the Meadowlands
.
In the Miller, the three-year-old filly trotter finished 10th in an 11-horse field. She was more than 19 lengths behind the leader after the opening quarter-mile and went off stride in the stretch.
After the race, Lady Andover was given several weeks off, during which time she received treatment on her back and stifle joints. Since returning to action, she has won four consecutive starts, including the $96,800 Buckette at the Delaware County Fair on September 21.
“She just raced terrible in the Miller,” Stewart said. “She made a break late, but she wasn’t any good before she made the break. She had no trot.
“It was good she raced so bad instead of just sort of bad. Then we gave her the time off. She raced so bad that we had to regroup, which was good, instead of tweaking something and trying again the following week, which wouldn’t have worked, I’m sure.”
Lady Andover is owned by James and Sandra Kunkel’s Winterbeary Farm. The Kunkels bought Lady Andover’s dam, 2001 New York Sire Stakes champion Lost Lady One, in December 2007. Two months later, Lady Andover, a daughter of Andover Hall, was born.
In her career, Lady Andover has won seven of 14 races and earned $77,460. All but one of her losses, a second-place finish last season, came in races in which she went off stride.
“She’s either done very well or been a disaster, there’s not a lot of in between,” Stewart said. “But there are more good things lately.”
So good that Stewart and the owners considered sending Lady Andover to Sunday’s Kentucky Filly Futurity at Lexington’s Red Mile. In the end, though, they decided against it in favour of the Bluegrass Stakes on October 9.
“Every time we’ve had to race her back in seven days she hasn’t raced that well,” Stewart said. “We’ve been spreading her races out and she’s done much better.
“She’s very wide eyed and very stressed after she races,” he added. “I didn’t really think going two heats (in the Filly Futurity) would be her cup of tea.”
Last week in the Buckette, Lady Andover started from post two and led from start to finish in 1:57.3 over a track labeled “good” because of rain.
Eighteen days earlier, she won in 1:54.2 from post nine at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in a race for non-winners of four. Seventeen days prior, she won in 1:55 in gate-to-wire fashion at Harrah’s Chester.
“I don’t think she has to be on the front end, but she’s been racing very well on the front end lately,” Stewart said. “Her race at Delaware was very good. She drew the two hole at Delaware, and if you’ve got any gate speed at all you’ve got to use it at Delaware.”
Off the track, Lady Andover has a bit of an edge.
“She’s not going to put her head over your shoulder and let you rub on her,” Stewart said. “She’s not a sweetheart, by any means, but she’s OK.”
Stewart has high hopes for Lady Andover the rest of the season. If all goes well in the Bluegrass Stakes, the connections could take aim at the Breeders Crown in Canada. Eliminations are scheduled for October 22 and the final is October 29. Her mom missed winning the 2004 Breeders Crown Mare Trot by a neck.
“She has the tactical speed to be successful,” Stewart said about Lady Andover. “Hopefully she’ll have a good fall. We’re heading into the fall in good shape, I think.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.