The 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.

Tony Pike has formed a strong opinion of Eliud and his confidence in the three-year-old’s Wanganui prospects proved on the money.The Cambridge trainer had tipped the son of Almanzor as a top winning hope against his own age group over a mile and the gelding never looked in any trouble.Off the back of a runaway maiden success at New Plymouth, Eliud handled a rise in class with aplomb to stroll home under co-topweight of 57kg in the hands of Michael McNab.“He’s a horse that has always showed a lot of promise but was a little immature and he’s strengthening now,” Pike said.“He’s a really progressive staying type and he will only get better as he goes up in trip.“We thought he could have been a Queensland Derby horse a couple of months ago, but it just came up too soon.”The gelding bounced well for an uncontested lead and stayed on too well for his rivals to score by three and a-half lengths.“He’s come back so well this preparation and the main aim was to keep him comfortable and not break stride and he picked up really well,” McNab said.Eliud was bred by Kevin Hickman and sold through Valachi Downs’ draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale for $320,000 to Waikato Bloodstock on behalf of Hong Kong interests.He is a son of the Rip Van Winkle mare Pendleton, whose four successes included the Listed Dunedin Gold Cup, and she is from the family of the G1 Telegraph Handicap winner Adventador.

New Zealand three-year-old Geriatrix made a big impression when making his Australian debut at Eagle Farm on Saturday, albeit not in the race his trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott had hoped for.The Almanzor colt headed across the Tasman as a three-race winner from nine starts, most recently at Rotorua on May 11, and he had also produced strong finishes to be close up behind the placegetters in the Gr.3 Wellington Stakes (1600m), Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m) and Gr.3 Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1200m).That career record and his $86,285 in prize-money put Geriatrix in fourth on the ballot for his intended first Australian start in Saturday’s A$300,000 Gr.3 Fred Best Classic (1400m). O’Sullivan and Scott opted for the A$85,000 HKJC Handicap (1400m) as their Plan B, and they came away with a perfect consolation result.Geriatrix was patiently ridden by expat Kiwi jockey Michael Dee, who settled him near the tail of the field before unleashing him down the outside in the straight. The Kiwi colt swept past his rivals in the last 300m and scored impressively by half a length.O’Sullivan and Scott are now hoping to step Geriatrix up into black-type company for the A$200,000 Gr.3 Gunsynd Classic (1600m) at Eagle Farm on June 15.“We brought him over hoping to run in the Fred Best today but ended up a wee way down the ballots for that race, so this is a great consolation,” Scott said.“He handled a long summer in New Zealand very well, and we thought there was a bit more juice left in the tank to bring him over here. He’s got a good turn of foot and handles a range of track conditions.“This is a great result for the owners. They’ve been very patient with him and they’ve got the reward today. For a young colt to beat older horses the way he did was fantastic.“Now we’re hoping to carry on to the Gunsynd in a couple of weeks’ time. We’d love to pick up a bit of black-type with him.”Geriatrix was bred by Cambridge Stud owner Brendan Lindsay and is by that operation’s outstanding shuttle stallion Almanzor. Since August 1, Almanzor has sired 69 winners across Australia and New Zealand including Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) hero Circle Of Fire and fellow stakes winners Positivity, Athabascan, Zabmanzor, Moonlight Magic, Sudbina, Nucleozor and Ahuriri.The dam of Geriatrix is the Showcasing mare It’s Our Showtime, whose two foals to race are both winners. Geriatrix’s half-sister Proscenium Arch finished fourth in last year’s Gr.2 Doomben Roses (2000m).Cambridge Stud offered Geriatrix in Book 1 of Karaka 2022, where he was bought for $675,000 by Bruce Perry Bloodstock.It’s Our Showtime produced a colt by Merchant Navy in 2021, followed by another Almanzor colt in 2023. – NZ Racing Desk.