It was worth the wait.
After seasons of going agonisingly close to cracking the somewhat mythical century mark, richly talented reinsman Adam Sanderson finally reached his Everest.
During the recently completed 2017/18 season, Sanderson finally reached three figures.
The Invercargill born horseman finished the term with 100 winners.
Bang on, no more and no less.
But the satisfaction is obvious.
“It’s such a good feeling on a personal level, I’ve been so close on quite a few occasions but come up short but I finally got there. It was actually a much better year than I expected and had very good support from a lot of people including Raboki (Shannon Price & Scott Miller), they really helped me along among others.” Sanderson said.
Based in Queensland since the 2011/12 season, the proud Kiwi has obtained strong results each and every year since while firmly entrenching himself in the top bracket of a competitive drivers colony.
His season tallies sit at 14, 87, 87, 92, 99, 79 and now 100.
Since arriving in the Sunshine State, Sanderson, 29, has been based with astute stable of Darrel Graham at Fernvale and pounced on his opportunities including victory in the 2013 Gr.2 $75,000 Nursery Pace 3yo Fillies Final at Albion Park with Montana Marie.
He landed back to back Redcliffe Gold Cups (2016/17) with now United States based pair Five Card Draw and Kept Under Wraps.
During the previous season, he triumphed with the classy mare Bettorthanspecial to land the Forever Gold Mares FFA at Albion Park in a time of 1:52.3.
Sanderson also prepared 18 winners in his own right as a trainer with My Mastercraftsman, Daenerys Stormborn and Long Road To Fame all contributing to his tally.
Leading owner and Christchurch based Trevor Casey is a great supporter of Sanderson and races a number of horses from his stable.
“I think the fact that I reached triple figures is the highlight rather than any individual performance; there were many times throughout the season where I didn’t think I was going to make it again. I thought my strike rate was solid too.
“Driving a mare like Bettorthanspecial is always a thrill; she’s a good mare and a pleasure to drive so I’ll cherish the memories I have with her now that she is retired. Hopefully, she’ll leave some really handy types.
“Looking ahead, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing; I try not to overthink things and focus on the basics. I would like to keep improving on the training aspect because I’ve really enjoyed the past season, it’s a challenging caper but very rewarding at the same time and hopefully I can attract some new stock.”
Maybe he takes that psyche from his favourite sports team, the New England Patriots in the NFL.
Sanderson is hoping to head back to North America to take in more action with the Patriots after watching them live last year at the Meadowlands when they played the New York Jets.
“How can you not like the Pats, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick? They set the standard…Go Pats!” he quipped.
He has five drives this Saturday night at Albion Park.
Sanderson has driven 3 winners so far this season.
Chris Barsby | RQ Web News | September 14 | Photo by Dan Costello