‘‘That's a bit special,'' Anderton said.
Special does not even begin to sum it up.
A year to the day after The Diamond One's emotional victory in the 2015 edition, just three days after the death of her trainer, Steven Anderton - Claire's husband - the 6yr-old shot to the lead in the hands of Daniel Bothamley, holding off the late dash from Tommy Tucker to secure a treble of White Robe Lodge wins.
Bothamley is the third jockey to ride The Diamond One to victory in Otago's biggest race of the year, following on from Rory Hutchings last year and Chris Johnson in 2014.
But, as part-owner and part-breeder Tony Dennis said in the post-race presentation, all three have been super rides.
The Diamond One's win was a credit to Claire Anderton, who had battled through the spring to get the mare back to full fitness.‘‘As people know we've had a few wee niggles with her and she was in work for quite a long time before she got to the races,'' Anderton said.
Three wins in the race for the mare was an appropriate return for owners and breeders, the Dennis brothers, as Ray Dennis explained.
‘‘We've had a horse run three seconds in a row.''The Twinkle played bridesmaid to The Fantasy in 1980 and 1981 before having to concede to Powley in 1982.
Ray Dennis paid credit to Claire Anderton's patience as she slowly got the mare ready enough to compete at Wingatui on Boxing Day.‘‘Claire's got her right,'' he said.
‘‘She's had two 1200m races and it's hard to come into a race like this - 1600m - and be like this.''
The Steve Anderton Memorial Trophy was run for the first time on Saturday, and the rating 65 1200m was appropriately won by Anderton's uncle, Brian and cousin Shane.
Gallant Ruby shot clear at the 200m for the Andertons to win by 3 lengths, capping off second placings at Wingatui on December 26 and Gore on January 23 with an easy win.
‘‘At Gore the other day she was probably in front a stride after the post,'' Shane Anderton said.
‘‘She just takes a while to wind up, and Wingatui suits her, being a big track like this.''
Shane Anderton continued to be popular with his sons, Matt and Ryan, after Quartet notched up her third win this season, after some ‘‘bad luck'' stories last season.
‘‘They think it's all right now. There's no paying and they get to watch a good horse,'' he said.‘‘It keeps them off your back for another week.''
