The not for sale sign has been put on exciting three-year-old Ruby’s Lad as he prepares for the Southern Guineas Series.
There has been plenty of interest in the son of Ghibellines following his four raceday appearances which have resulted in three wins and a second-placing.
“He is doing the job right,” said co-breeder and part-owner Brian Anderton, who trains the gelding in partnership with his son Shane.
“Right from the word go he has always shown he is a decent sort of horse.
“He doesn’t do much more than he has got to, he is still growing and is immature, but he has got a lot of ability.”
That ability has instigated a fair bit of interested in the gelding, however, Anderton and his fellow owners have resisted the urge to entertain any of the offers.
“There has been a lot of interest in him, but he is not for sale,” he said.
“The two fellas who are in with Lorraine (wife) and I have been looking for a horse like him all of their lives. They want to keep going.”
Their exciting ride with the gelding will kick up a notch on Saturday when he contests the Listed Liquorland Gore Guineas (1335m).
“It will be a test for him, especially it being a tighter track to what he has been racing on,” Anderton said.
“I can’t see why he won’t give a good account of himself.”
While he is showing a lot of promise to date, Anderton said Ruby’s Lad will be kept to his region for now.
“He is going to go through the three-year-old series here and that will do him,” he said.
Ruby’s Lad will be joined in the race by stablemate Burgie who takes a similarly impressive form line into Saturday.
She won at the track when on debut last month before finishing runner-up to Ruby’s Lad at Wingatui last week.
“She wasn’t far away the other day and that tight track might suit her too,” Anderton said.
Meanwhile, Anderton is looking forward to New Zealand Bloodstock’s delayed National Yearling Sale Series in March where he is set to sell three well-bred fillies in their Book 1 session under his White Robe Lodge banner.
The southern stud farm will offer lot 239, the Per Incanto filly out of Group Three performer Fascinate; lot 315 the Savabeel filly out of multiple stakes winner Include; and lot 585, the Almanzor filly who is a close relation to Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner Roger That.
“We don’t take big numbers because of the travel. We only take the best and the three that we have got are really lovely horses,” Anderton said.
