Te Akau NZ Waikato Preview

Te Akau New Zealand has four horses entered for the eight-race twilight programme on Wednesday Feb. 26 at Te Rapa.

As on Tuesday Feb. 25 the conditions were: fine and Dead4, rail out 7 metres.

3:10pm R1 15 Speeding (3 f Volksraad - Rapida) - Matt Cameron; raced very well here two starts ago when lengthening appreciably from back in the field for third in the Maiden 3YO 1600 metres and has since finished seventh in the her first middle distance attempt on Feb. 9 in the Maiden 2100 metres at Pukekohe. Drawn barrier nine in the corresponding race, she has both the form and ability to prove competitive in this line up.

3:46pm R2 5 Tiara (3 f O'Reilly - Royal Lady) - Vinny Colgan; produced a better performance than the form line suggests when closing off to finish 3.4 lengths off the winner, after a chequered path in the straight, on Feb. 15 in the Benchmark 65 2100 metres at Ellerslie. Prior to, she appeared a filly ready to step up in distance when working home for fifth here on Jan. 22 in the Benchmark 65 1600 metres. Drawn barrier five in the Benchmark 65 2100 metres, she meets a couple of worthy contenders, including stable-mate Riverenza, but has already shown in the manner of her recent Maiden win over a mile that she has the attributes to give this a shake - one of two in the race for Te Akau.

3:46pm R2 7 Riverenza (4 m King's Chapel - Sea Rhythm) - Matt Cameron; produced a good performance last time out when finishing third in a solid form race on Jan. 18 in the Benchmark 65 2100 metres at Pukekohe. She has continued to improve in two starts over ground in this campaign and her genuine attributes can see her figure in the finish.

4:56pm R4 3 Cold Snap (5 m Pins - Forty Two Below) - Matt Cameron; is resuming off a spell for an autumn campaign and faces only five rivals in the Benchmark 75 1200 metres. She was a winner in the same grade of the Poverty Bay Cup (75, 1350m) three starts ago and while improvement will come with the run she has had a couple of quiet trials to fit her for the assignment.