Four Win Te Akau Weekend

Te Akau Racing's teams have been on fire this weekend with four wins and a series of close placings to their credit.

To set the weekend scene, we had a fabulous Te Akau Owners' Cocktail Party on Thursday night in Christchurch - it was a lovely night and David and Karyn, together with Julia-Rose, Hamish, Pam, Jamie and Daniel all enjoyed meeting up with our wonderful friends and supporters!

The racing action then all started on Friday evening at Kranji as Mark Walker prepared My Lucky Strike to win, a new addition to the stable.  He also saw Sebrose finish a gallant second and Iking a good third.

On Saturday Te Akau New Zealand trainer Jason Bridgman had a team active at both Te Rapa and Riccarton.

The day started off in fabulous fashion with two wins from our first two of three runners in the south.  The Informant reported on Te Akau striking early, as you can read below.  Bronte Lass was the first to salute the judge, followed by Wolfwhistle shortly later - both had been sent out favourties to win their respective events, both were brilliantly ridden by stable rider Matt Cameron and both were David Ellis purchases from the Karaka Premier Sale.

Rockfast however, our Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas' candidate, had been left to drift in the betting and punters were really caught napping - he barrelled home in barnstorming fashion to finish a very good second to the hot fabvourite - a top effort indeed.  His owners were over the moon with this performance by the son of Fastnet Rock.

Our team based in the south - Pam Gerard, Jamie Richards and more recently Daniel Miller have done an outstanidng job!

Te Rapa was not to be left out of the winning equation either as Tiara, who Te Akau trains for Waikato Stud, also caught punters napping again when winning and paying a dividend of close to $20!

The weekend was some compensation for a very sad team who saw our Group 2  Coupland's Bakeries Mile pre post favourite Chambord struck down with injury at his final track gallop on Saturday - that afternoon he was scheduled to head down to Christchurch.

He has fractured a cannon bone and is curently at Hamilton Veterinary Services clinic to undergo surgery - our thoughts are very much with this lovely horse who we know as "Blitz" - and his owners - we have everything crossed for a successful operation and recovery.

Here is the article from The Informant that was published after the two fold success at Riccarton yestrday - but of course before Rockfast's impressive runner up result and Tiara's subsequent win:

Te Akau Racing, Jason Bridgman and Matt Cameron will join forces with Rockfast in the Gr. 1 Sothys New Zealand 2000 Guineas later this afternoon at Riccarton, and an early double with Bronte Lass and Wolfwhistle got the team's big day off to the perfect start.

Bronte Lass came out on top after an exciting tussle down the straight with Locket, while Wolfwhistle towered over his opposition on paper and was too good for them on the track as well.

Cameron rode a tactical race on the talented Bronte Lass, never letting his most dangerous rival out of sight and then timing his run to perfection. Locket tried her best to stay with the northern raider but Bronte Lass gradually asserted her authority down the stretch and scored by just under two lengths.

“I knew I had the horse,” the winning rider said. “Locket was right in front of me all the way, so I knew all I had to do was to get past that and I was away. She travelled nicely and finished it off really really well.”

A six-year-old daughter of Stravinsky and the Sadler's Wells mare Little Dorrit, Bronte Lass now has five wins and 11 placings to her name in her 24-start career. She returned a dividend of $3.30 today and ran the 1600 metres in 1:38.76.

“She's a progressive mare,” Cameron enthused. “She's going to go places and she's going to keep winning.”

Wolfwhistle (main picture) has had a bit to live up to, being a son of champion sire O'Reilly and dual Group One winner Legs and a $240,000 David Ellis purchase at Karaka. But the four-year-old has made giant strides this season and made it three wins in a row in the Muritai Marketing Premier.

Sent out at prohibitive odds in Rating 85 grade after winning the Listed Spring Classic at this track last start, Wolfwhistle lived up to expectations with a classy display. He tracked leader Red Ripper all the way around the track, cruised to the lead at the top of the straight and put My Chino and Colonel Carrera away with plenty up his sleeve.

“He was dominant,” Cameron said. “We weren't sure how the race would pan out. Jason said the key was to get him breathing comfortably and happy, so I had him forward and outside the leader this time. He was happy there. He travelled up really well and was too good for them.”

It was a frustrating time for Balcairn trainers John and Karen Parsons, whose runner Locket and My Chino both had to settle for second to the Te Akau winners.

Wolfwhistle has now had 11 starts for five wins and a placing, earning more than $85,000 in stakes. But he is worth significantly more than that. Despite a placid nature that has fooled some into mistaking him for a gelding, Wolfwhistle is an entire and could be in line for a stud career if his outstanding racetrack results continue.

Rockfast will bid for a Te Akau, Bridgman and Cameron hat-trick in the Guineas later this afternoon. He is the seventh favourite for the race at 13 to one.