Te Akau Geelong Friday Preview

Te Akau Racing has two horses entered on Friday 20 June at Geelong (Victoria). 

Geelong:

Weather: fine, track: Soft6, rail: out 3 metres. No rain forecast.

2:25 p.m. (NZ) ~ 12:25 p.m. (Vic) R2 1 Astari (2 g Starspangledbanner – Belzella) – Liam Riordan; he positioned behind the leaders and finished well for third in a trial on 11 June at Seymour. Debuting in the A$27,000 2YO 1212 metres, his dam Belzella (Bel Esprit) won four times to 1200 metres and was also Group Three placed over 1000 metres. He appears a natural juvenile type, but he requires luck from his wide draw (16) and it is difficult to really assess his chances in a field mainly of debutantes. NZ TAB fixed odds: $21.00 & $5.50. 

5:30 p.m. (NZ) ~ 3:30 p.m. (Vic) R8 5 St Vincents Garden (5 g Camelot – Mona Brown) – Craig Williams; he finished fourth in the Benchmark 78 2400 metres on 25 April at Randwick, was subsequently purchased by Te Akau, and is having first start for our Cranbourne stable in the A$27,000 Benchmark 64 2418 metres. He is lightly raced, and brought stakes' form in the UK before transferring to Australia last season. He is back in grade and is ideally drawn (2) to race well. NZ TAB fixed odds: $5.00 & $2.05.