Te Akau NZ Tauranga Preview

Te Akau New Zealand has two horses entered for the eight-race programme on Thursday Jan. 2 at Tauranga.

As on Tuesday Dec. 31 the conditions were: fine and Dead6, rail true.

3:30pm R5 10 Riverenza (4 m King's Chapel - Sea Rhythm) - Matt Cameron; got through the line okay when resuming from a break of 246-days in the Benchmark 65 1600 metres here on Dec. 13. A staying type filly from the family of Auckland Cup (Gr. 1, 3200m) winner Upsetthym (Rhythm) and Adelaide Cup (Gr. 2, 3200m) winner Capecover (Cape Cross), she won her Maiden over 1800 metres and should appreciate stepping to 2100 metres from barrier five.

5:15pm R8 10 Tiara (3 f O'Reilly - Royal Lady) - Matt Cameron; worked cleared from sixth at an opportune time and kept finding the line for third here on Dec. 13 in the Maiden Fillies & Mares 1400 metres. Stepping up to a mile, she appears nicely placed in this field to prove competitive. Her grand-dam Royal Tiara (Blanco) won the 1995 Auckland Cup (Gr. 1, 3200m) and her dam, Royal Lady (Stravinsky), recorded her five wins around 2000 metres. Stepping up to a mile, she appears nicely placed in this field to prove competitive.