Talented Te Akau Pair set for Tauranga

The Informant reports:

Stablemates Splurge and Royal Success look well placed to add to their impressive records when they line up in Saturday's $35,000 Chesters Plumbing & Bathroom Handicap at Tauranga.

Between them, the Te Akau Racing pair have racked up 12 wins from 25 raceday appearances.

Splurge has won seven of his 15 starts, headed by the Gr. 3 Darley Plate at Ellerslie in March and a subsequent open handicap defeat of Group One performer Underthemoonlight.  The Savabeel gelding disappointed in two starts during the Queensland winter carnival, and he finished only eighth as favourite when he resumed in the Gr. 3 Sweynesse Stakes at Rotorua.

Trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards applied blinkers for Splurge's next start, over 1300 metres at Tauranga, and he finished a close third behind Deals In Heels and Galaxy Miss.

“That performance was a lot better, and his work since then has been good,” Richards said. “We're still feeling our way with him a little bit, he can be a bit of a hard-pulling horse at home and a bit difficult, but we're pretty happy with him at the moment and we think he can run a good race on Saturday.”

Royal Success looks to have returned to racing in top order this spring, resuming with a flying finish into second behind the 1000 Guineas prospect Inanna before winning nicely at Rotorua. He was prominent in fixed-odds betting for this week's Gr. 2 Coupland's Bakeries Mile at Riccarton, but Autridge and Richards elected to keep him in the north.

“He's a horse who's had a few problems, so we've just got to pick and choose our races with him,” Richards explained.

“We thought it would be a bit too firm for him in the Coupland's in Christchurch. His work's been good heading into this weekend, and we just hope there's a little bit of rain around to give him a bit of cushion in the ground on Saturday. That would be absolutely perfect for him.”

Snapshot finished an encouraging last-start sixth in the Gr. 3 Spring Sprint at Hastings.

“I was absolutely thrilled with him, he just came to the end of his run,” trainer Danica Guy told NZ Racing Desk recently.

“He's a bit older and taken a while to come to full fitness. He needs good tracks and he will be very competitive next time out with the right ground.”

Prior to joining Guy's stable, Snapshot won six of his 11 starts for fellow Matamata trainer Graham Richardson.