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Wanganui equine supplement manufacturer and distributor Vitapower has struck a unique quaddie on the international thoroughbred racing stage.

The family-owned company’s supplementary products, Palamountains Extreme Equine Plus, marketed as Palamountains Equine Pro in North America, is in the diets of this year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner I’ll Have Another and 2012 Kentucky Oaks victor BelieveYou Can. It is also on the menu for rising New Zealand star Shez Sinsational, winner of the Gr2 Hollindale Stakes on the Gold Coast following her victory in the Gr1 Stella Artois Auckland Cup this season.

I’ll Have Another is now poised to claim the elusive North American Triple Crown if he can win the Belmont Stakes in New York.

Since Affirmed became the 11th Triple Crown winner in 1978, 11 horses have won the first two legs only to come up short in the Belmont, the longest of the races also known as the “Test of the Champion”.

And I’ll Have Another has his doubters unsure he can secure the Triple Crown. The inclusion of the Palamountains product in his feed bin, however, maybe the kicker. None of the other 11 horses in recent years have had that luxury. O’Neill said I’ll Have Another came out of both races in great shape.

“The colt looks great this morning,” O’Neill said the day after the Derby was run.

“He licked his feed tub, was jogging sound, and had great energy. He looks fantastic,” O’Neill said.

Rod Pearce of Wanganui, better known as founder of the Waitotara Meat Company, now operating under the Silver Ferns banner, is the exclusive distributor of Palamountains products in North America and feedback he is receiving from the thoroughbred fraternity is impressive.

“The victories of I’ll Have Another in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and Believe You Can in the Kentucky Oaks provided an amazing result for Palamountains Equine Pro because both horses are trained on the product,” Pearce said.

“In recent trips to America I have visited five of their top racetracks and two in Canada. I met a lot of trainers who had all their horses on Palamountains products and many of them have been clients for several years. The enthusiasm for our products was most impressive. My reps say once they try the product it sells itself,” Pearce said.

Meanwhile, Shez Sinsational’s trainer Allan Sharrock is also sold on the product.

“I use Extreme on all my horses, including Shez Sinsational. I have it included in the racehorse mix I get from Fiskins. It costs a few dollars more, but it’s well worth it,” the New Plymouth trainer said.

“There’s nothing wrong with her, I just prefer to use Extreme, and the Equine Bone and Joint product, because precaution is far better than a cure. It just seems to improve the horse’s general health and they want to eat and work – it’s good stuff ,” Sharrock said.

It is the 99.5 per cent absorption rate of the ingredients of the products suspended in a patented oil solution that hold the key to its success.