The 'Life's a Beach' Syndicate had had a long wait between wins when Arden's Sweetheart won the Speights Summit Ultra Moblile Pace at Addington on 10 May 2022. She has now raced 23 times for 2 wins, 2 seconds and 2 thirds.
As a two year old she had only one start which was at the 3 March 2019 Cheviot meeting's Group 3 Leonard Memorial Stakes where she ran eighth of eight for Kentuckia Lodge. Talented filly Spell Bound was the winner of that race. She started favourite in her next race at Gore on 25 August 2019 and won it very well.
To see the Gore race click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoN0faHlSnc
To see the Addington win click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNy0PAOVI5A
The Sweet Lou five year old mare is out of In The Pocket mare Achieve A Dream (now deceased). She was leased to the syndicate by the Stivens when their original purchase Arden's Endeavour retired from racing due to a medical condition.
Despite the early promise Arden's Sweetheart showed she was a bit disappointing in her next season and it appeared that she also had a few health issues. She was given a long spell at Arden Lodge before John took over her training. John says, "I knew she had some ability just from her training runs but she was continuing to disappoint in a race - particularly when she got a good run but wasn't finishing off her races. We sent her to Grant Payne and he has managed to turn her around."
At her recent start at Rangiora on 10th May she came home nicely and finished fourth. At Addington driver Tim Williams made use of her good gate speed to get her in a good position and she finished off well in mile rate of 1.58.7. The syndicate of owners have been very patient and have had their faith in the mare repaid.
To watch the race click below:
For a link to a video and interview with Nigel Armstrong at Harness Racing Unhinged: https://fb.watch/cX8S6hKPJK/ or the Arden Lodge Facebook page