A successful association between Windsor Park Stud and Riverton owner-trainer Andrea Dickson has continued with A Mandarin, who will shoot for a hat-trick of wins when she lines up in the Grand Casino (2200m) at Wingatui on Sunday.
A Mandarin has joined Dickson’s stable under a lease from Windsor Park Stud. That same arrangement resulted in Dickson winning races at Oamaru and Gore with the capable mare Rita Hayworth in 2021 and 2022.
While Rita Hayworth ventured south as an unraced mare, A Mandarin brought established racetrack credentials. The daughter of Turn Me Loose was trained by Sam Mynott through a creditable northern career that spanned 16 starts for two wins, a second, two thirds and four fourths. Her wins came in 2100m races at Te Rapa and Pukekohe in January and October of last year.
“I’m leasing her from Windsor Park, and with the good form that she had up in the North Island, I felt quite lucky to get her,” Dickson said.
The five-year-old had excuses when unplaced in her first four starts in the South Island, but has turned a corner in her last two appearances with back-to-back Rating 65 victories in the Ashford Motor Lodge Christchurch Pourakino Handiacp (2147m) at Riverton and the Homestead Villa Motel & Majestic Float (2200m) at Ascot Park. The Riverton race had a stake of $40,000.
“In her first start for me in January, she hit her head on the top of the gates and almost knocked herself out,” Dickson said. “Then she was badly interfered with by a fallen horse at Wingatui in February. I gave her a bit of a break for a few weeks, and she’s come back really well with those two wins in April. Those were a couple of very good performances.
“She’s feeling very well. It’s quite a step up on Sunday, going into open class, and it looks like a very competitive field.
“But she’s been working really well and is in great order. She tries really hard, and she seems to be forming a good rapport with Yogesh Atchamah, who has ridden her to both of those wins and can claim 2kg. “I can’t fault her leading into the race, and if she was able to run in the top four against that level of opposition, I’d come out of it pretty happy.”