Mo Hahn can lay claim to being the first 2yr-old trotter to win at a Marlborough Trotting Club meeting after his success yesterday.
He is trained on the Waterlea track by Dean Hunter, who races the son of Earl and Avon Develd with his brother-in-law, Allan Hahn, of Nelson.
Mo Hahn was having his third start.
He had finished third at his second start, at the Nelson meeting the previous weekend.
"I will turn him out for a couple of weeks now," Hunter said.
He is the only horse being worked by Hunter, the manager of a debt collection agency.
Hunter won five races with Avon Develd, including her first start as a 2yr-old at Addington in 1998.
She won a race at Waterlea first-up as a 3yr-old.
Avon Develd (Gee Whiz-Global Dancer) died in 2008, a month after Mo Hahn was weaned.
She was 13.
She left two other foals, Earl De Veld and Richmond Firecat.
Earl De Veld won at Wanganui as a 3yr-old for Hunter in 2006.
Hunter became associated with the family when he secured the broodmare Vinaka (Court Martial-Resistor's Sister) from Bevan Heron, of Rangiora, in 1983.
"My father-in-law had Vinaka with Tommy Behrns and she showed ability but she was injured in a paddock accident," Hunter said.
"I asked Bevan one day what had happened to her and he said she was empty. I offered to take her and asked him to get her served by Alias Armbro [1979 Dominion Handicap]."
The result was Martial Brant, who gave Hunter his first win as a trainer at Reefton in 1988.
Global Dancer, the dam of Avon Develd, was by Globe Tour (nine wins) out of Vinaka.
• Eye Bolt, who would have been destroyed if an insurance agency had approved, won his first start yesterday.
"He tore his knee to the bone in an accident as a 2yr-old and the vets said he would never race. I had him insured but the insurance company wouldn't give approval to have him put down. They reckoned he could live in a paddock," Paulette Screen, the Pukekohe part-owner of Eye Bolt, said.
The accident occurred when Eye Bolt took fright and crashed on the track at Pukekohe.
He was being driven by Tony Robb, who broke two vertebrae and crushed another.
Robb is still incapacitated.
"I had asked Tony to take him as he [Eye Bolt] had an accident with me and got in an electric fence although I did manage to hold on to the reins."
Screen then sent Eye Bolt to Robbie Hughes, who handles polo horses.
Eye Bolt was ridden for three or four months.
Cran Dalgety, the West Melton trainer, was visiting the Screen stables in January and offered to take the horse.
The 4yr-old Eye Bolt qualified at Ashburton on June 2.
He is raced by Screen with her husband, Bill, Kevin Haycock, of Auckland and Gladys Bassett (91), of Hunua.
They paid $61,000 for Eye Bolt when the son of Grinfromeartoear and Lady Of Fortune was offered at the 2008 Ready To Run Sale in ChristchurchMichael and Michelle House had bought Eye Bolt for $46,000 at the Australasian Classic Sale six months earlier.
Eye Bolt was bred by Pureora Standardbreds, Helensville.
Originally named Pureora Grin, he is the second foal of Lady Of Fortune, a winner and half sister by Badlands Hanover to The Power Of Wealth, the winner of eight races.
Screen has had a 20-year involvement with harness racing.
She worked for trainer Peter Wolfenden for 12 years and Graeme Harris for four years.
She owned and trained Eyeslookingatyou to win seven races.
The mare has left Eye For Eye (three wins) and Eye Contact, whom Screen has predicted bright prospects as a 3yr-old next season.
• Wilusi Blues was relegated from first to second at Waterlea yesterday under the provisions of the lapped on rule.
His trainer, Terry Chmiel, did not contest the relegation.
Wilusi Blues shied at a leaf on the track
