Trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson have long held the belief that homebred Te Akau filly Crown Princess (NZ) (Embellish) is up to stakes company, and she could get her opportunity to test their faith at Ellerslie on Wednesday.
Bred by Te Akau Stud, the daughter of Embellish is raced by the Te Akau Glittering Racing Partnership, for whom she placed on debut over 1400m at Ellerslie earlier this month before breaking through for her maiden triumph in the Arawa Park Hotel Rotorua 1560 on Saturday.
She jumped away well for jockey Wiremu Pinn, who was able to find the coveted one-one position early on where Crown Princess enjoyed an economical passage.
Pinn asked his charge to improve three-wide at the 400m mark and they quickly hit the front and had a length advantage at the top of the straight, which was quickly extended, and Crown Princess ran out a comfortable 4-1/2 length victor over race favourite Golden Century, with a further 4-3/4 lengths back to Aspark Park in third.
Pinn was duly impressed with his charge’s performance.
“She drew a good gate (4) and I elected to use it,” Pinn said. “We got the one-one, she relaxed nicely and put them away pretty easily. She’s only had the two starts and has a bright future.”
Co-trainer Mark Walker was also rapt with the way his filly performed, and said it has been great to see her develop from a foal at Te Akau Stud to now a raceday winner.
“It was a really good win by a filly that was bred out at Te Akau Stud,” he said.
“We’ve seen her as a foal, as a weanling, and yearling, and always liked her. She’s a big strong girl and we’ve had a big rap on the stock of Embellish for a long time. They just need a bit of time, a bit of patience early on, but he’s a stallion that is underrated and one that we think is going places.
“On her run today, we definitely think this filly is up to black-type and we’re really looking forward to her future.”
That black-type test could come as soon as New Year’s Day at Ellerslie, where she is set to contest the Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m).
Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis, who bred Crown Princess under his Te Akau Stud banner, is hoping she can add to the growing list of stakes-winning graduates from the farm.
“She’s been a lovely filly from the outset and has a great group of owners, which includes Ronald Lau who owns outright our first winner of the day at Rotorua, Colonel Warden,” Ellis said.
“Each year we try to pick out the best two or three yearlings that we’ve bred and offer them to our owners.
“We recently had Maven Belle who was the Champion Two-Year-Old after winning the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (Gr. 2, 1200m) and Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr. 1, 1400m), and Belle En Rouge (Burgundy). She won the New Zealand Oaks (Gr. 1, 2400m) and became New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year.
“We’re having great success with the progeny of Embellish and they’re good quality horses. He’s becoming a really good sire, especially with his oldest being four-year-olds now, and we’re lucky to have quite a few mares in foal to him again this year.
“We bought the dam, Princess Davone, from quite a good staying type family, so it’s encouraging with a view to Crown Princess stepping up in distance.”
Earlier on the card, stablemate Colonel Warden (Russian Revolution) broke through for his maiden victory at just his third start in the Paula Short Memorial 1215.
Stakes-placed as a juvenile in the Listed Champagne Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton last May, Colonel Warden kicked-off his three-year-old campaign with a sixth placing at Rotorua earlier this month, and returned to the venue on Saturday where he was backed into $2.40 favouritism by punters, and the son of Russian Revolution duly delivered.
“It was a good, tough effort after sitting three-wide facing the breeze, so a courageous win by the horse,” Walker said.
“(It was) great to get another winner for the owner, Ronald Lau. He’s been a very loyal client of Te Akau’s, over decades, and the horse looks like he can win more races given the tenacity he’s shown today.
“You don’t often get away with racing that wide on the speed, so it just showed his determination to win.”
