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The connections of the top southern mare Include are staying loyal to their regular rider Courtney Barnes.
They have given a resounding vote of confidence in the apprentice by handing her the Group One ride on the star four-year-old in the Gr.1 Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Te Aroha on April 4.
“My daughter and son-in-law were looking at a North Island rider, but they will be sticking to a winning combination,” said Brian Anderton, who trains the home-bred with his son Shane.The daughter of Gallant Guru is raced by her breeders Karen and Wayne Stewart, stud managers of the Anderton family’s White Robe Lodge where the mare’s sire stands.
Include rounded off her preparation for the northern venture with an impressive victory at the expense of Madam Victoria in Saturday’s Listed Valachi Downs South Island Breeders’ Stakes.She was ridden by Barnes, who has now been aboard Include in all 10 of her career wins, with the last five in succession.
“They certainly know where that winning post is,” Anderton said. “We’re going to take it a race at a time so we don’t get to the bottom of her.“We are waiting for a programme of fillies and mares’ races in Brisbane, nothing is certain but we will be looking at what’s about for her.”
Include will be making her second North Island appearance at Te Aroha after a rare failure in last season’s Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks at Trentham. She raced fiercely in front and faded out to run seventh.“There was a race put off at Hororata and she went into the Oaks mad fresh,” Anderton said.
“She was a month between races – had she had one it would have taken that edge off her.”