Te Akau Te Rapa Trials' Report

Te Akau trialled two horses on Tuesday 18 September at Te Rapa -

Weather: overcast, track: Dead4, rail: true

Heat 2 Open 900 metres (neck, neck 57.1)

Unfazed (5 m Zabeel - Faze) - Jason Waddell; travelled comfortably outside the leader and went up a gear nicely in the straight, without being asked for too much, finishing a close second.

One of only four from the last crop of champion stallion Zabeel (Sir Tristram), she raced away to win her Maiden by nearly four lengths, backed that up with another four length win in February and scored again in March (all three wins over 1400 metres), before spelling.

Sir Patrick Hogan said: “We own the filly and race her on lease with others, including some of the Super Rugby referees”, in a team comprising Jamie Tout, Matthew Bell, Bryce Lawrence, Glen Jackson, Mike Fraser, Vijay Vallabh, Grant Keenan, and Mark & Chrissy de Lacy.

Heat 9 Maiden 900 metres (1 ½ lengths, 5 ½ lengths 55.5)

Enduring Love (3 f Camelot - Holy Moly) - Shafiq Rusof; began smartly, shadowed in front on the inner, cornered well and quickened up nicely for second without coming off the bridle.

Owned by the Te Akau Queen of Camelot Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis), purchased by David Ellis for $250,000, from the draft of Coolmore Stud, at the 2017 Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Both her dam Holy Moly (Holy Roman Emperor) and the grand-dam Clarissa (Zabeel) were impressive winners on home soil in New Zealand.

“She is a beautiful filly by the very exciting young stallion Camelot (Montjeu), who is probably one of the best racehorses that Coolmore has ever brought to Australia,” Ellis said.

“We kept a close eye on Holy Moly when she was racing here and obviously she was a very good filly herself.”

Holy Moly won on debut as a two-year-old and showed her inherent ability when successful in the Soliloquy Stakes (Listed, 1400m) at Ellerslie, before placing in the Sarten Memorial (Gr. 3, 1400m) at Te Rapa. This is her first foal.