Te Akau Trans Tasman Friday Preview

Te Akau Racing has one horse entered on Friday 21 November at New Plymouth, New Zealand and one entered at Pakenham, Victoria.

New Plymouth: 

Weather: cloudy, track: Heavy8, rail: true. No rain forecast. 

5:22 p.m. R6 3 El Viento (5 g El Roca – Mandeville) – Craig Grylls; he travelled three-wide with cover from his outside gate and ran home for fifth in a solid field in the Rating 75 1600 metres on 1 November at Tauranga, after the wide effort told. Contesting the $18,500 Rating 75 1600 metres, he has won on soft ground and if he secures a decent trip from the outside gate (9), he can be competitive and will be running on strongly. Fixed odds: $3.10 & $1.40. 

Pakenham:

Weather: fine, track: Heavy8, rail: out 6 metres. No rain forecast. 

8:15 p.m. (NZ) - 6:15 p.m. (NZ time) R1 4 Astari (3 g Starspangledbanner – Belzella) – Luke Currie; he sustained a strong finish to win when resuming in the Maiden 1100 metres on 1 November at Traralgon, and contests the A$40,000 Benchmark 64 3YO 1200 metres. His dam Belzella (Bel Esprit) won four times up to 1200 metres and was also Group Three placed over 1000 metres. He delivered  a good first-up effort to win and has to be considered a top three contender in this compact field. NZ TAB fixed odds: $8.15 & $1.35.