Champion sire I Am Invincible had three winners on Wednesday and two of them were exciting debut two year-olds De An Andretti and I Am in the Mood.
As a sister to the triple Group II winner and multiple Group I placed Libertini, much was expected of De An Andretti when she made her career debut over 1100m at Hawkesbury.
It could quite easily have gone pear-shaped for the Ron Quinton-trained 2yo when she jumped sideways at the start, cannoning into the runners on her inside.
Still well back in the field rounding the home turn, De An Andretti was eased out to the centre of the track by Andrew Adkins. Once balanced up, she picked off runner after to runner to defeat the Your Song filly Your Too Good by a neck.
It was just the second win back for Adkins following a serious injury.
Libertini's sister gets there! Dean Andretti impresses on debut at @hawkesburyrc for trainer @RonQuinton under @AndrewAdkins103 pic.twitter.com/SYqYYgvwyB
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 14, 2021
“She’s obviously a class filly to overcome what happened to her at the start,”Adkins said.
“I don’t know if the girth pinched her or not, but she half-bucked coming out of the gates and she ran a few off the track.
“She got into a nice rhythm. I got on to the back of Kerrin McEvoy’s mount coming to the corner. I let her balance up and she savaged the line, like I knew she would.
“She felt like the winner a soon as we straightened up. She came here off just one trial and she is a big, gross horse.
“Hats off to Ron, he knows what he is doing.”
A homebred for Gerry Harvey, De An Andretti is the fourth winner from the first five foals of the 2011 Group I ATC Coolmore Classic heroine Aloha.
Aloha has a yearling brother to Libertini and De An Andretti named Hawaii Five Oh and she was covered by I Am Invincible again last season.
De An Andretti was the tenth juvenile winner for I Am Invincible this season and minutes later, he had his 11th when the Danny O’Brien-trained filly I Am In The Mood made a winning debut over 1100m at Bendigo.
Out of the Group III ATC Epona Stakes winner Intimate Moment, I Am In The Mood races for Widden Stud and partners after failing to make her $500,000 reserve at the 2020 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
She led all the way for Craig Williams to win by three-quarters of a length in a most promising display.
I Am In The Mood was too classy for Cardigan Queen who caught the eye late. 👀@CWilliamsJockey @DOBrienRacing
— Racing.com (@Racing) April 14, 2021
“She’s a lovely filly, I think there was a lot of merit in her win and she has a lot of upside into how she won,” Williams said.
“In the straight I think that if she had something in front (of her), a target, she would have been more impressive, I was half steering her with my persuader. She’s still a filly learning her craft.”