It’s only natural for yearling managers to have their favourites when preparing for the sales, but it’s rare they get to call them their own.
However, Wentwood Grange’s Brad Molander is an exception, and he is enjoying racing Zacinto gelding Good Brothers (NZ) with local trainer Chloe Cumming and a group of close friends and colleagues.
“He was my favourite yearling that year and we took him over to Adelaide during COVID and had to go through quarantine coming back,” he said.
Initially trained by Samantha Logan, Good Brothers had three starts on the Cambridge synthetic last year before being offered on gavelhouse.com, and Molander had no hesitation in placing a $500 bid and duly took the gelding home.
“He came up on gavelhouse.com and it was no question for me, so I purchased him and gave him to Chloe to train and she has done a fabulous job with the horse,” Molander said.
“I work for Wentwood Grange as the yearling manager and they are a huge supporter of both myself and Chloe. To have Dean Hawkins, his wife Tennille, and Charlie and Sean Hawkins in the horse is great.”
Good Brothers had to undergo a wind operation earlier this year and Molander said he has made great progress since then.
“He had surgery in March, he went through Waikato Equine and he has been fantastic with all of the recovery,” he said.
Wednesday’s win continued a great time of late for Molander, who received the LOVERACING.NZ-sponsored Mary Lynne Ryan Young Achiever Award at the Property Brokers National Breeding Awards last month.
“It has been a massive time for me of late, my luck really seems to be in, which is great,” he said.
Cumming was also delighted to get the win for her close group of owners.
“Elen (Nicholas) rode him an absolute peach, it is what we talked about, just trying to jump well,” she said.
“We have had some average barrier draws leading into this race, so we were absolutely stoked to get a decent barrier draw and he went super.
“We always knew he had the potential, but he had that wind issue. He has had a wind operation, so we have just taken our time with him. He has just settled in and has gone better and better with each run.”
Cumming has also had a great time of late, having pre-trained last Saturday’s Listed Ryder Stakes (1200m) winner Itza Charmdeel (Charm Spirit) for trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood
