Imperatriz Begins Te Akau's New Era

 

Racing.com reports:

 

Five-time Group 1-winning mare Imperatriz will be the first runner from Te Akau's new stables at Cranbourne when she runs at The Valley on September 9.

Te Akau principal David Ellis revealed that the Melbourne arm of its operation will get underway in the first week of September and that the Cranbourne Turf Club has already come up with alternative arrangements if the building works on the permanent base haven't been completed by then.

"If the stable that's being built isn't quite ready then, the club's going to give us six other boxes that we can start in," Ellis said.

As well as Imperatriz, Ellis has also earmarked Group-performed Dynastic as another horse bound for Te Akau's Australian stable, which he already has plans to expand on in the next 12 months.

"We've got horses like Dynastic that we think will be a good staying horse, plus we're getting offered a lot of horses from the studs to train," he said.

"We'll have 20 horses there by the end of September and probably 40 by the following September."

WATCH: Imperatriz's previous visit to The Valley

Te Akau's team at Cranbourne will be overseen by Danny O'Brien's former assistant Ben Gleeson, who Ellis spoke of in glowing terms, while head trainer Mark Walker will potentially travel to Melbourne from New Zealand each fortnight and increase his presence in Victoria as the stable grows.

The extra time that Walker will be spending in Melbourne means that co-trainer Sam Bergerson and current racing manager Reece Trumper are likely to take up greater responsibility at Te Akau's home base in their native New Zealand, which Ellis isn't neglecting by any means.

"The future in New Zealand's very exciting too," Ellis said.

"We've just had massive increases in stakes here and a lot of new initiatives, so it's a very exciting time."

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