Te Akau Ruakaka Preview

Te Akau New Zealand has three horses racing on Wednesday 17 May at Ruakaka.

As on Tuesday 16 May the conditions were: cloudy and Dead4, rail out 4 metres. 50mls rain forecast 6 p.m. Tuesday - midday Wednesday.

1.42 p.m. R4 13 Fastnet Fire (4 m Fastnet Rock - Dragon's Tail) - Michael McNab; received an economical trip and fought solidly to hold her position just behind the leaders in the Rating 65 1600 metres on 29 April at Hastings, and should appreciate stepping up in distance for the $10,000 Rating 65 2100 metres. She is assured another soft trip from barrier one and appears a top five chance if appreciative of the course at her first attempt.

2.52 p.m. R6 11 O'Know (4 m O'Reilly - Know All) - Opie Bosson; struck a heavy track when resuming in April at Rotorua, and improved to finish fourth in the Maiden Fillies & Mares 1400 metres on Slow7 a fortnight ago at Matamata. With the pedigree to go further and act on better ground, the $10,000 Maiden 1600 metres should prove ideal, and she has the gate speed to overcome a wide draw, but forecast rain could through a spanner in the works.

3.27 p.m. R7 16 Elegant D'oro (3 f Medaglia D'oro - Elegant Fashion) - Opie Bosson; makes her debut in the $10,000 Maiden Fillies & Mares 1200 metres. She worked forward outside the leader and kept up a resolute gallop to dead-heat for first over 1050 metres on 24 April at Taupo, in the second of two trials this time in. Her half-sister, Classy Fashion (Fusiachi Pegasus), also trained by Te Akau, was a winner on debut over 1200 metres on Dead6 and this filly should go well first up too. Her dam is the 2003 Hong Kong Derby winner Elegant Fashion (Danewin), also winning the Group Two International Cup and Group Two Chairman's Trophy for total stake earnings of $A6.6m. As a three-year-old in Australia, she recorded four of her eight career wins including the Moonee Valley Oaks (Gr. 2, 1600m).