Red letter day for WRL

Five wins for trainers Brian and Shane Anderton; four for stable apprentice Jacob Lowry and five for sire Gallant Guru at the Otago Racing Club meeting and a fifth for the Who Shot Thebarman in the Melbourne Cup made  the first Tuesday in November, 2016, a red - letter day for White Robe Lodge.

The stable won five of the last six races at Wingatui with Serve De Aunt, Waylay, Tommy Tucker, Willow and Gallant Ruby. Stable jockey Shankar Muniandy rode Waylay and Lowry rode the other four. It was the most successful day for Lowry (18), who had previously ridden two winners on a card. "I think it is a lot to do with getting my weight under control. I rode comfortably at 56kg today,'' he said.

Tommy Tucker (winner of the feature race, the $30,000 KB Contractors Handicap (1400m), Waylay,  Willow and Gallant Ruby are by Gallant Guru, who also sired the winner, Somethings Burning.

Who Shot Thebarman staged a big run from back in the field for $A6 million international race over 3200m. The son of Yamanin Vital - Ears Carol collected a $175,000 stake. He has now earned $1.9 million in Australia and $430,000 in New Zealand.

Serve De Aunt is a half-sister to Who Shot Thebarman. She was having her third start when she won a 1600m maiden.  She is a 4yr-old by Nom du Jeu and the sixth foal Brian and Lorraine Anderton have bred from Ears Carol, an unraced mare by Carolingian. Karen Stewart planned the mating and Brian sent Ears Carol to Nom du Jeu, the 2008 AJC Australian Derby winner, to replicate Attentive on both sides of the pedigree of the resultant foal. Attentive is the fourth dam of Nom du Jeu and the third dam of Ears Carol. Brian bred Attentive 48 years ago from a mating of Ruddington and Lochlisten. He trained her to win the 1970 McLean Stakes at Wingatui. The McLean Stakes was then the first race for 2yr-olds in the spring.

Other tracing to Lochlisten (Balloch -Listen In) include Prized Gem (Brisbane Cup), Perceptible (White Robe Lodge Handicap, Dunedin and Southland Guineas) and Auditory (Riverton Cup). It was close on 11 years to the day when Perceptible was among five winners for the Anderton stable in a maiden race at a Wingatui meeting on a Sunday. The stable has a best tally of six wins at Gore in 2007.