In two years in the barn, Gran Andrews has provided trainer Anthony Farrior and owner Ultra Championship Racing LLC with an abundance of success with only a few minor headaches along the way.

The six-year-old, Florida-bred Jess’s Dream gelding has found a home in the starter allowance conditions at Charles Town.

No, seriously: Gran Andrews has won 11 consecutive Charles Town outings, all in starter company. He’s sprinkled in four defeats among those wins, but all of the losses came out of town, at Mahoning Valley, Thistledown, and Timonium.

After making the first 16 starts of his career at Gulfstream Park in Florida, Gran Andews eventually made his way north to Laurel Park and won his Maryland debut on July 14, 2023 when he was entered for the $5,000 claiming tag that made him eligible to the starter allowance ranks for two years. That’s when Farrior grabbed him.

Even with his window about to close in less than five months, Gran Andrews has made the most of his opportunities at the level.

“He’s a very sound horse, but he does have some bleeding issues,” Farrior said. “When I talked to [former trainer] Saffie [Joseph] about him, he told me he was a bad bleeder. It’s taken a little time to make sure that he has the proper balance of medications. But he’s bled on me a couple of times, but I can’t complain about what he’s done. He loves winning.”

He demonstrated that most recently Feb. 21. That evening, he ran down longtime leader Ozone in the final furlong to win by three parts of a length.

After winning a starter allowance event at Timonium in late August, 2023, Gran Andrews finished a nondescript fourth in an allowance race at Charles Town in his first outing over the strip three weeks later. But he rebounded immediately to win his next start at Charles Town and then finished second in his next two outings, one each at Mahoning Valley and the other at Charles Town on December 8.

That contest would thus far prove to be his most recent setback over the oval.

“I thought he ran well at Mahoning Valley, and I really expected him to win that first starter at Charles Town,” Farrior said. “But he just didn’t get there that night. But he’s certainly been perfect over the track since then. He’s gotten beat at other tracks, but he loves Charles Town and he still trains at Laurel.”

Since the calendar turned to 2024, Gran Andrews has been perfect in the friendly confines of Charles Town.

Gran Andrews prevailed in each of his first two starts at Charles Town last February, then finished second in an allowance event at Mahoning Valley. Less than three weeks after that defeat, however, Gran Andrews regained his winning ways by taking another starter allowance event at Charles Town last April 27. A follow-up trip to Thistledown wasn’t very enjoyable; he finished fourth.

But after suffering that setback in Ohio, Farrior found the perfect remedy for future defeats, as Gran Andrews spent most of the summer at Charles Town. Back at his favorite oval and level, Gran Andrews reeled off four straight victories at Charles Town against starter allowance foes on June 7, June 29, July 19 and August 22.

“He’s probably better at one mile and one-sixteenth than he is in the two-turn races up there,” Farrior said. “But they don’t write a lot of them, and if they did, I probably missed one. But he’s always been fond of that track and he loves the level. There’s not many horses can win nine races in one year. I think only one or two horses in the country won more races than he did last year.”

Gran Andrews went 9-for-13 overall last year, tying him for the third-most wins of any horse in the nation. Only Tennessee Moon (13 wins) and Spikezone (11) won more in ’24.

Gran Andrews closed his year by winning a pair of local starter allowance events while settling for second in one at Timonium and third in another at Mahoning Valley.

He prevailed in his last start in 2024 over the Charles Town strip and has since started the current campaign with a pair of local scores in January 11 and again on February 21, running his current win streak to 11 straight races over the Jefferson County oval and 12 victories in 14 local tries overall.

“I was hoping to find a three-turn race for him up there, but I was glad that he won last out,” Farrior said of Gran Andrews, who boasts a 17-7-4 slate and over $290,000 banked from 38 lifetime outings overall. “I think he’s got another starter up there in early March and I’ll keep looking for more. His window closes on July 14 [2025], so hopefully the races will keep filling.”