Te Akau Caliburn on Debut

Te Akau trainer Jamie Richards has European staying horse Caliburn (4 h Camelot - Enchanted Evening, by High Chaparral) set to resume in the $135,000 Very Special Kids Pin and Win Plate (2500m) on Saturday at Flemington.  This will be his first start in the Te Akau tangerine colours.

The winner of two races, most recently over 2400 metres in June at Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England, having also registered a second and two thirds from nine starts, Caliburn was purchased by Te Akau principal David Ellis, and is raced by the Te Akau European 1 and Te Akau European 2 Syndicates.

“Earlier this year, Karyn (Fenton-Ellis MNZM) and I decided to buy a European stayer and approached two of the best judges in the world, especially of European form, bloodstock agents Hubie de Burgh and Paul Moroney,” Ellis said. “And, we purchased Caliburn from Andrew Balding's Newmarket stable after consultation with Paul Moroney.

Following a period in quarantine, where he was initially looked after by Anna Jones, Caliburn has been based since mid-August at Flemington, in the care of Craig Thornton, with Richards making regular trips to oversee his progress - in addition to Probabeel (Savabeel), Te Akau Shark (Rip Van Winkle) and now Avantage (Fastnet Rock) at Randwick, a team at Riccarton, and home stables at Matamata. 

“He's a lovely horse and a really nice horse to have around,” Richards said. “He's hasn't done anything wrong since arriving, worked up nicely and I was really pleased with his jump out there last Friday at Flemington. 

“We were keen to get the miles into his legs and had to think outside the square, a little bit. We gave him some work before the jump out and he jumped out, went a nice half-mile and certainly ran through the line very well.

“He's a couple of months between runs, 2500 metres, but we've done as much as we can with him and he'll present in good order. But, whatever he does on Saturday he will improve on.”

Richards said that race day rider Damian Lane has been galloping Caliburn and Thornton riding his other work. 

“I don't know a lot about the form, but Damian knows more about it and said he's very competitive,” said Richards, of the 9-1 chance. “It's what's going around in the handicaps over there and we're trying to get into the better races, so hopefully we can run well and progress.”

The track is currently rated Good4 and likely to remain, given there is no rain forecast. 

“He's raced well on good tracks before but most of the Europeans seem to enjoy a little bit of easing ground.”

About Caliburn and aims for the horse, Richards had previously said: “Caliburn is an exciting addition to the stable. He has some promising form in the Northern Hemisphere and initially we plan to set him for assignments during the Spring Carnival in Melbourne. 

“He's lightly raced and I think has the makings of an ideal Auckland Cup and Sydney Cup horse in the autumn, and could well be a Melbourne Cup horse for next year. That's the sort of quality we think this horse has got. It's incredibly exciting for our owners and staff to be bringing a horse like this back to New Zealand.”

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