Franco Lomu touches down
When you carry a name like Lomu the expectations are high and that legendary name sits firmly on the rump of Franco Lomu (Bettor’s Delight).
The Regan Todd trained three year old is certainly heading in the right direction and his win last night at Addington was his third in just a handful of starts.
In last night’s first heat of the Touchdown Car Rentals, Rising Stars driver Jonny Cox took Franco Lomu straight to the top. With just over a lap to run St Paddy took over. Turning, Cox eased Franco Lomu off St Paddy’s back and he let down nicely to beat St Paddy by a length and a half with Partytime finishing third three quarters of a length away.
FRANCO LOMU REPLAY
“He’s just gradually kept getting better. He always showed us that he was going to be alright. He took about three preps to get pacing and we didn’t know what we had on our hands. He was one of those ones that was with you, he just didn’t know where to put his legs. He ended up winning a race at two and he’s come back better this year,” Todd said.
Owned by Glenys and Phil Kennard, Frank and Shane Endicott, Graham Beirne from Small Car World and Peter Dakin, Franco Lomu is out of the unraced Changeover mare The Legend. She is a half-sister to London Legend (25) and millionaire pacer Bit Of A Legend (53).
He was bred by Spreydon Lodge and sold to Phil Kennard for $80,000 at the 2024 NZB Standardbred Yearling Sales.
“He was on our list. We had quite a bad year that year. We got blown out of the water on a heap of them. He was a bit later in the sale and we managed to get him. I thought he was a good buy at eighty.”
The win coincides with the release in New Zealand of the feature documentary about Jonah Lomu as rugby’s first global superstar.
“I loved old Jonah. He was a machine. Hopefully this horse lives up to his namesake.”
Meanwhile Todd wasn’t too disappointed with the performance of his other runner, Stumblin In.
“It probably looked a lot worse than he actually went. He ran home in 26.8 so from where he was, he was aways up against it. I think he’ll improve the most out of both of them.”
All three placegetters and the fourth horse Nikolai Ray, qualify for the $30,000 final in twenty days time, but the rules state that Franco Lomu is ineligible to start in the second heat.
“I’ll probably just give him a run anyway on the 14th, just to top him off for the final on the 21st.”
For complete race results, click here.
by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink
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