Forbury Park trainer Darryn Simpson notched his first win at Alexandra Park when Havehorsewilltravel launched a sustained finish to win over a mile on Friday night.
Caretaker trainer and driver Brent Mangos barely had to ask the 4yr-old for an effort as he completed a searching run around the field from the 900m to win, his second in six starts.
Simpson said he was thrilled to notch his first win at the North Island's premier track with his promising trotter.
"It was a bit of a buzz to get a win at Alexandra Park.
"He had made mistakes in his first two starts up there, but he had gone massive races afterwards. He did it quite nice on Friday night, so it was great," Simpson said
Havehorsewilltravel is an all-Otago product as he is trained by Simpson, owned by Garry Clark, of Mosgiel, and bred by Darryl and Anne Trainor, of Dunedin.
The 4yr-old is a half-brother to McLovin, who is being set for a tilt at the Dominion and Interdominions by his Victorian trainer, Andy Gath.
Havehorsewilltravel could race on the undercard at the Interdominion carnival at Alexandra Park later this year.
Simpson and Clarke plan to leave the horse in the North Island and officially transfer him to Mangos's stable soon.
The handicapping conditions Havehorsewilltravel was to have raced under in the south was the main driver behind the move.
"He won his maiden at Forbury pretty nice and we were going to nominate him to race the next week, Simpson said.
But he would have been giving horses that had won five races a head start.
With a nice horse and the prize month they have in Auckland, sending him up there was the best thing to do.
Simpson trained Winfield Invasion to win one race and raced her with Daryl Trainor.
The broodmare gem went on to win three more races from former Canterbury trainer Brent Lilley's stable.
The Trainors have a full sister to Havehorsewilltravel in Mark Jones' Canterbury stable.
