Te Akau Taupo Trials' Review

Te Akau Racing trainers Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards took the opportunity to trial horses in each of the two heats available to stakes performers, prior to the commencement of racing on Friday 18 August at Taupo.

Track: Slow8, rail true

Heat 1 Open 1100 metres (nose, 2 ¾ lengths 1:06.9)

Gingernuts (4 g Iffraaj - Double Elle) - Opie Bosson; settled in the rearward four of ten horses over the sprint trip, six lengths from the leader passing the 600m and got going stylishly late in the piece to finish fifth.

“Without blinkers on he just wanted to have a day out but Opie kept him on the job and he found the line really nicely,” Richards said. “It was a good trial and he's on track for the *Tarzino to kick-off his campaign.”

*The weight-for-age $200,000 Tarzino Trophy (Gr. 1, 1400m) on Saturday 2 September at Hastings.

A finalist for Champion Three-Year-Old, Champion Stayer, and Horse of the Year, after winning both the New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie, and Rosehill Guineas in Sydney, Gingernuts was purchased by Te Akau principal David Ellis for $42,500, from the draft of Stainley Park, at the 2015 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale and has won nearly $1.1 million in prize money.

Heat 2 Open 1100 metres (¾ lengths, 1 ¼ lengths 1:07.9)

Imperium (6 g Encosta De Lago - Ethereal) - Wiremu Pinn; was tail-end Charlie by six lengths in a field of eleven over the sprint trip and a conservative fifteen lengths from the leader at the 600m, before rolling home in staying fashion.

“He was left a bit flat-footed over 1100 metres but his work at home has been good, he's a happy horse and he will head to the South Island in the next couple of weeks and get ready for the New Zealand Cup in November,” Richards said.

A close third in the New Zealand Cup (Gr. 3, 3200m) last November at Riccarton, he will follow a similar path to contesting the race again.

From the Melbourne Cup star mare Ethereal (Rhythm), a four-time Group One winner who earned over $6 million in prize money, he was purchased by David Ellis for $425,000, from the draft of Pencarrow Stud, at the 2013 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale.