Stonybreck runaway caps Riccarton treble for Te Akau
Te Akau Racing’s involvement in the Group One raceday at Te Rapa on Saturday was significantly depleted by scratchings due to heavy track conditions, but it was a completely different story at Riccarton.
Spring racing was in full swing in Christchurch, with the track upgraded to Good4 and those familiar tangerine silks carried to three highly impressive victories.
Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson’s biggest win of the day came in the $50,000 Join TAB Racing Club Mile Prelude (1400m), where Stonybreck blew his rivals away by five lengths.
The Tavistock gelding was already a seven-race winner before Saturday’s $50,000 feature, with the most recent of those successes coming on the Cambridge synthetic track in September of last year. He had become something of a perennial placegetter in the 12 months since then, finishing second or third in five of his six previous starts. Saturday brought a well-deserved breakthrough.
Stonybreck (NZ) (Tavistock) was perfectly rated by jockey Jasmine Fawcett and dominated the race from the front. Fawcett began to up the ante coming down the side of the track, and then Stonybreck kicked hard at the top of the straight.
The chasers dropped further and further behind from there, headed by the winner’s stablemate Perfect Scenario (NZ) (Iffraaj), as Stonybreck streaked down the straight to score the day’s most dominant victory. He clocked a slick 1:21.76 for the 1400m open handicap.
“It was a terrific win and I thought it was an intelligent ride by Jasmine,” Walker said. “She got across to lead, stole some cheap sectionals, and increased the tempo from the 600m.
“He’s been a fantastic horse. Dave (Ellis, Te Akau Racing principal) bought him very cheaply, and he’s provided the owners with a lot of fun. He’s going really well and looks like he’s got plenty more to come.
“It’s his first trip to the South Island, and he’s loving the environment at our stables on the course at Riccarton. Hunter (Durrant, assistant trainer) and the team have got him looking great and he’s racing accordingly.”
Bought by David Ellis for just $20,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2021. Stonybreck has now had 30 starts for eight wins, nine placings and $173,525 in stakes.
Earlier in the day, Origin Of Love (NZ) (Snitzel) put herself on a potential Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) path with victory in the Promenade Hospitality for Cup Week Maiden (1400m).
The $25,000 race was the second start for the Snitzel filly, who finished third on debut at Timaru earlier in the month behind Saturday’s impressive Rangiora New World Guineas Trial (1400m) winner Alottago.
Origin Of Love took a big step forward second-up, settling in third before finishing over the top of the leaders to win by a neck.
“I thought it was a good effort by the filly to win second-up,” Walker said. “Jasmine got her into the perfect spot to trail the leaders, got her out and rolling quite early in the straight and she kept up a really good gallop.
“She’s out of a Camelot mare and she looks more of a staying type of Snitzel filly, so we’re definitely on target for the 1000 Guineas on the first Saturday of Cup Week.
“I think that once she gets to 2000m we’ll see the best of her, given the pedigree, and there are nice races over ground for these fillies as the season unfolds around Christmas and New Year.
“Having had that experience at Riccarton really helps when you’re heading towards a Guineas preparation, and I think she has plenty of upside on the back of the win today.”
Te Akau’s other win came with speedy two-year-old Out Of The Blue (NZ) (Tivaci) in the Nobby Bussell Memorial 2YO (800m).
“It was a terrific win,” Walker said. “He’s a horse that Dave (Ellis) bought cheaply out of Book 1 at Karaka, and Julia-Rose (Hayes) has introduced so many new owners, so they’ll be very excited.
“He’s a son of Cornflower Blue, who we trained and was a very good filly. All of our buying team thought this horse was really worth a punt to buy him at the sales.
“With that prize-money in the bank, he’ll be Karaka Millions-qualified, so we’ve got the luxury of taking our time and planning our assault towards the big race.”
