Trainer Roydon Bergerson has been left angry and bemused by the decision to reprogram the feature events from Saturday’s abandoned Trentham meeting to Te Rapa this Saturday.
The Gr.1 Rydges Wellington Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) and the Gr.2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1200m) will be run at the northern venue, which has infuriated the Awapuni-based horseman.
The Trentham race was to have been a key lead-up to the Listed Karaka Million (1200m) for his debut winner Wolverine (NZ) (Tivaci) and plans for the filly are now up in the air.
“It’s a joke that they have taken the race away from the Central Districts, I can’t believe that. It’s all wrong and just a debacle,” Bergerson said.
“I don’t know why they didn’t say we’ll run the two races at Hawke’s Bay on Wednesday, they’ll get a reasonable track. It will be a Dead 4, the same as Trentham should have been.”
Wolverine was an impressive winner at Otaki last month, after which Australian Bloodstock struck a deal to purchase a 50 percent holding in the daughter of Tivaci.
Bergerson and Chris Rutten, a noted judge of young thoroughbred talent, originally purchased Wolverine out of Waikato Stud’s draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale draft for $50,000 and remain in the current ownership group.
The northern transfer of the Wakefield Challenge Stakes has thrown Wolverine’s preparation into disarray and Bergerson, and fellow trainer Allan Sharrock who was also vocal in his criticism of events that led to Saturday’s abandonment, is now unsure of the immediate future of his filly.
“I have to speak with Australian Bloodstock, one of the reasons they bought into her was for her to run in the Wakefield and then the Karaka Million,” he said.
“Everything is up in the air at the moment, we’ll make a decision in the next couple of days as to what we do.
“I don’t really want to go to Te Rapa. I wanted to give her one look around Ellerslie and it’s too much for a two-year-old to be going up and down the North island.”
Meanwhile, Bergerson does have a plan in place to get his promising staying three-year-old Nest Egg (NZ) (Reliable Man) through to the Gr.1 Vodafone New Zealand Derby.
The addition of headgear to the stakes-placed son of Reliable Man resulted in him opening his winning account last month on his home track, after which he was sent for a short break.
“The blinkers helped Nest Egg, he was just going to sleep in his races. He was finding the line okay, but not like he did on Saturday,” Bergerson said.
“He will kick off here over Christmas in a three-year-old race over 1400m and then build him up to a mile and his final lead-up to the Derby will probably be the Avondale Guineas (Gr.2, 2100m).”
“He’s always had Derby written over him and got a mile as a two-year-old and we can’t wait to get him over more ground.”
Nest Egg had finished third in last season’s Listed Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Ellerslie.
Bergerson, whose young team has made a strong start to the season with eight winners and 14 placings on the board, also has high three-year-old hopes for Reign It In.
“He’s just a big kid, but he can round off some sectionals. I’ve been really pleased with him, he’s still learning and has got a lot of talent, but he’s just a bit raw,” he said. “I think he’s got the ability to win a good mile.”
