Classy mare Campionessa has flown the flag for Te Akau Racing at the top level for a number of years, but on Saturday at Trentham, her younger stablemate Qali Al Farrasha (NZ) (Almanzor) will get her time to shine contesting the Gr.1 Harcourts Thorndon Mile (1600m).
The Te Akau homebred mare was among the top staying fillies last term, placing in the Gr.3 Sunline Vase (2100m) and Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m), earning her a tilt at the Gr.1 Australasian Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville.
While she didn’t fire in her season finale, Qali Al Farrasha has made a firing four-year-old return, winning at Ellerslie before recording narrow placings at Te Rapa and Pukekohe, the latter to Nereus in the Gr.3 Counties Cup (2100m).
“She’s not very big and doesn’t carry a lot of condition, but she’s very game,” said Sam Bergerson, who trains the mare in partnership with Mark Walker.
“I thought her runs this time around have been very good, she goes out there and tries hard, which her record reflects.
“She’s freshened up nicely and we were planning to go to the Rich Hill Mile (Gr.2, 1600m) last week, but she got quite a few points from the Counties Cup and would’ve been carrying 56.5kg. We elected to wait and she’s got 53kg in a pretty even field on Saturday, and she’s got a nice barrier, which gives us options.”
As reflected in the TAB market, the field for this year’s edition is relatively even, with Marotiri Molly currently on top at $5. However, the big mover early has been Qali Al Farrasha, shortening from $21 to $12.
Bergerson, while knowing the size of the task, has faith his charge is more than capable of figuring in another elite-level finish at Trentham.
“She hasn’t missed the top three many times in her career and she raced well at Wellington in the Oaks,” he said.
“It’s a big ask at Group One level now, but we think she’s up to it.”
Campionessa (NZ) (Contributer) will also feature on the Trentham card, taking her place in the Gr.3 Life Direct Trentham Stakes (2100m). A Group One winner over 2050m, the daughter of Contributer has run her customary honest races this preparation, finishing second to Snazzytavi in the Gr.2 Cal Izuzu Stakes (1600m), and fifth to the same runner in the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic (2000m).
“She’s probably just a year older now, and against those top Group One performers, she’s just not quite as sharp as a Snazzytavi or La Crique,” Bergerson said.
“We ran in the Thorndon last year, but this time around we weren’t able to freshen her well enough to come back to a mile, and this looks like a nice stepping stone in potentially heading to a Herbie Dyke (Gr.1, 2000m) or something similar again.
“She’s very consistent, she gets in well at the set weights and penalties, she’s giving two or three kilos to horses that are rated 20 points below her. It looks a nice race for her, we’re sure she can be competitive. Allan’s horse (Islington Lass) will be very hard to beat, but she always runs well and tries very hard.”
Te Akau’s trio of stakes runners is completed by Carsolio (Bivouac), a juvenile colt having his second start in the Listed Star Group Wellesley Stakes (1100m). The son of Bivouac was a narrowly beaten favourite on debut, but has since impressed winning at the Pukekohe trials last month.
“It was disappointing to be beaten at Tauherenikau, but he’s certainly better for the experience,” Bergerson said. “It just rained on the morning and unfortunately got to a heavy track, and he ended up three-wide in front in a four-horse field.
“It all went wrong, but we’ve given him a freshen-up, his trial at Pukekohe was good and his work was very good on Tuesday on the course proper.
“This looks like a nice open race for him on paper, he’s drawn one with Luke Currie aboard, so he ticks a lot of boxes. He’s already had an overnight trip away as well, so we think he’ll travel and handle it well.”
While the stable has had plenty of success at the Central Districts venue, they will enter new territory further south at Kumara on Saturday when they line-up their first runner in the Vernon and Vazey 0800 Truck Parts Kumara Gold Nuggets (1810m).
That representative will be Elegant Lady (NZ) (Highly Recommended), a placegetter in last year’s Listed Dunedin Gold Cup (2400m). After running fifth at Otaki on Boxing Day, she continued down to Te Akau’s Riccarton base with the same target in mind this term.
“We are keen to get her to the Dunedin Gold Cup again as we did last year, she ran at Otaki on the way down to the South Island which is where she was always heading,” Bergerson said.
“She’s pretty well-travelled, she went down to Christchurch last year and seemed to really thrive. We saw this race as a nice stepping stone in getting up to the 2000-plus range, without having to jump from a mile to a 22 or 24.
“We would love to win the Nuggets, it’s an iconic race and I’m pretty sure we’ve never had a runner there. It’s an exciting time for the stable and it looks like a nice race for her to progress into the late summer and autumn.”
