In-form pacer chasing Timaru Cup success
Matt Markham - Raceform • September 27th, 2025 8:00 AM
It hasn’t been the simplest of paths to get to this point, but Andrew Stuart is really starting to enjoy the ride with talented pacer Moonlite Blood.
Prior to resuming from a spell back in June, the son of Art Major had won just once in a 13-start career with a myriad of injuries and niggles preventing him from showing his full potential. You could see it was there, but a few things were holding him back.
However, an uninterrupted preparation this time in and a good steady build-up has turned things around, and he’s now full steam ahead with four starts netting three wins and a second. Finally Stuart is feeling like he’s going to see the best of a pacer he’s always had a lot of time for.
“It’s been good to see, because it hasn’t been easy,” Stuart told RaceForm. “We’ve had a lot of foot abscesses and the odd other wee issue along the way. But, touch wood, so far he’s been spot on and I couldn’t be happier with how he is going.”
In racing, success does come with the odd pitfall though, and thanks to his excellent return, Moonlite Blood is now creeping up the grades and stepping into the country cup territory pretty quickly. Stuart always felt he’d get there, but it’s come a bit quicker than he’d hoped, so programming requires a bit of caution and second thoughts.
“He’s not too bad in the ratings, luckily we kicked back off at a low enough grade, but he is getting up there a bit and another win would mean he’s really up against the very good ones. So we’re choosing our battles a bit and taking things from there.”
The first decent challenge comes this weekend at Timaru, where Moonlite Blood will step out in the $25,000 Timaru Cup – a race that qualifies as part of the Country Championship.
“They are the kind of races we’re targeting now with him, we’d love to qualify for that and have something to really work toward.
“It’s a nice option for him and we’ve had it in the plan for a few weeks now, and I’m pretty pleased with how he’s coming up for it too.”
Having last raced back on August 29, when he beat a handy intermediate grade field at Addington, Moonlite Blood has been back to the trials, winning at Rangiora last Wednesday.
“It was just what he needed to bring him right on for this week, I think. He did it nicely and came through it really well.”
Handicap races like this Sunday are never easy, but it is always an advantage when you have a horse who can step the tape and land handy when they’re off the front mark like Moonlite Blood is.
“That should suit us, as we’ll be able to settle in front of a lot of those other horses without doing too much work and then look to use his high speed when it comes time.”
Robbie Close will again handle the driving duties on the five-year-old, with Stuart cautiously looking ahead to the likes of the Akaroa Cup and then a race during Cup Week all going to plan.
Stuart will keep an eye on Riccarton’s meeting on Saturday too, with talented mare Texas Dolly stepping out second-up in the 1400-metre open handicap off the back of a luckless run first-up a fortnight ago.
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