5 Jun 2024The timing of Almanzor three-year-old Andy Win’s breakthrough success at Matamata wasn’t lost on trainer and part-owner Kelly Van Dyk.
The gelding rewarded the patience of the Prima Park manager when he produced an impressive staying performance over 2000 metres.
A $55,000 New Zealand Bloodstock National Weanling Sale purchase, he was later passed in at the Ready to Run Sale after he had been partnered in his pre-auction gallop with a subsequent runaway Group 1 winner.
“He breezed up with Warmonger, who he came out and did what he did at the weekend, and while we’re a long way from the Queensland Derby at Matamata on a Wednesday, he is a genuine stayer,” Van Dyk said.
Late bloomer Andy Win settled a clear last before making an early move 1200 metres from home.
He improved wide around runners to be fifth on the turn and held a sustained finish under Billy Jacobson to triumph by two lengths at just his second appearance.
“He’s been pretty hard to get a line on, he had three trials and did absolutely nothing, but I was very happy with his first-up run over a mile and the way he got through the line,” Van Dyk said.
“He had 2000 metres written all over him. His work on Saturday morning on the course proper at Matamata was impressive so I was expecting a bold run.
“He’s a big horse and immature and is probably still a year away from furnishing.”
From the family of G1 Australian Cup winner and sire Istidaad, Andy Win was bred by Andrew Bryant and David Armstrong's Andari Limited and is raced by Van Dyk with Ben Kwok.
“Ben was absolutely over the moon, and he’s been a supporter of ours for a long time, so it was really cool,” she said.