The last couple of weeks have not been easy for Southland owner Brendon McIntyre.
As an integral part of the What Ever Syndicate which raced Franco Ledger, he was saddened when the stallion died suddenly at Macca Lodge earlier this month.
“It was a pretty good death if you’re going to have one. It was painless. I was always worried about him because he served mares naturally. If he got injured because of that someone was going to have to make a tough call one day,” McIntyre said.
However his Somebeachsomewhere gelding Port Au Prince which won today may have helped soften the loss a little.
Trainer Driver Peter Hunter settled the gelding at the back of the second half of the field before letting him slide forward with just over a lap to run to sit parked.
“Pete talked about it before the race. If they slackened off he was going to get round them and take luck out of play.”
When the leader Leconte started to get reined, Hunter took Port Au Prince to the lead and he went down to the finish to beat favourite Lynryd Skynryd by three and three quarter lengths.
McIntyre who races the gelding with his wife Jaque bought Port Au Prince from breeder Ron Croon
“We liked him at two, but racing didn’t get off the ground (for that age group) and when it did he was probably ready for a spell.”
Franco Ledger is gone, but McIntyres, Peter Hunter and his wife Jo who is Brendon’s sister, have a promising two year old called Justalittlesip by the stallion.
“He’s just having a spell at the moment but he’ll come back and we’ll give him an opportunity. He ticks all the boxes at the moment. From what we’ve been told and from what we’ve seen all the Ledgers have got great manners.”
by Bruce Stewart