Franco Sinatra On Song In Junior Free-For-All

Franco Sinatra (NZ) (Captaintreacherous) was pitch perfect at Addington Raceway on Tuesday when taking out the Group Two Junior Free-For-All (2600m). 

He began well off his front-row draw and driver Carter Dalgety was able to find the one-one position early. The lead changed several times throughout the race, however, Franco Sinatra maintained his coveted position until the 400m when Dalgety asked his charge to improve three-wide.

Hadron Collider (NZ) (Sweet Lou) kicked clear by a couple of lengths at the top of the straight, but Franco Sinatra took chase and was able to wear him down to eventually win by a neck.
Cran Dalgety, who trains the five-year-old in partnership with his wife Chrissie, said his charge’s economical passage was the winning of the race and he was delighted he was able to score his first stakes victory on harness racing’s biggest day in New Zealand.

“In town hall company you always wonder if they can handle it,” he said. “He was very lucky, he got a very good trip. I think there were four lead changes and he ended up in the one-one the whole way. We will call that a lucky run.”

With victory, Franco Sinatra brought his career tally to 11 wins from 36 starts, all at the Christchurch track.
“He won a lot of races very quickly here at Addington and he got a bit of a shock for a season,” Dalgety said. “He has won 11 races and they have all been at this track here, so obviously he loves Addington.”
Bred by Spreydon Lodge, Franco Sinatra is out of seven-win mare San Rafaella, who is also the dam of Group One performer Franco Stallone and Group Two performer Franco Santino.
He was offered through Spreydon Lodge’s 2021 NZB Standardbred National Yearling Sale draft at Christchurch where he was bought by his trainers for $55,000.