Racing: Consolation for Andertons

The Otago runners may have disappointed in the Wellington Cup on Saturday, but there was a reason to be happy in defeat for Brian Anderton.

Anderton prepared Inferno with his son, Shane, for Saturday's group 2 2400m, but she was wide on the Trentham track for most of the journey and did not run on as Anderton would have liked, finishing 14th. The Steve Anderton-trained pair, The Solitaire and The Glitzy One, finished 15th and 16th.

Brian Anderton said Inferno would be checked by a veterinarian after she returned from the North Island on Wednesday and had a week's spell.

''She went too bad to be true,'' he said.

''Nothing went right for her.''

While Inferno failed to run up to expectations, Anderton and brother Hec, along with their wives, Lorraine and Pat, were able to share in the glory of Blood Brotha's win.

The two-time New Zealand Cup winner added the group 2 Wellington Cup to his race record, with his half-head win in the $200,000 feature.

''The one consolation was that we bred the winner,'' Brian Anderton said.

Blood Brotha, by Danzighill, was foaled in 2005, out of the Personal Escort mare Laura Dee. The 2002 Wellington Cup winner Envoy (by Personal Escort) was also raised at the Andertons' White Robe Lodge property in North Taieri, bred by Anderton's daughter Karen Stewart and her husband Wayne.

The Solitaire and The Glitzy One finished near the tail of the field, and - aside from The Solitaire racing keenly and wide at times - there was no clear reason for their disappointing runs.

''I'm not really offering too many excuses,'' Steve Anderton said.

''I can't really pinpoint at the moment what was going on. We've got to get them back home and start from scratch again with them.''

An autumn campaign in the South Island is likely for both mares. Historian defies oddsConvention says Historian should not be racing, Mike Dillon, of The New Zealand Herald reports.

The Derby placegetter broke down so badly when sent to Hong Kong he was never expected to face the race starter again. But enter the water treadmill owned by Cambridge horseman Gary Alton.

''It's been a battle, but we've got there,'' a delighted Alton said after the Choisir gelding won the $200,000 group 1 Thorndon Mile at Trentham. At the line, Historian, carrying 53kg, was pressed to just hold out Lady Kipling, who lumped her 59.5kg with exceptional heart.