Te Akau Waipa Preview

Te Akau New Zealand has three horses racing on Wednesday 31 October at Waipa.

As on Tuesday 30 October the conditions were: showery and Dead6, rail true. 7mls rain forecast Tuesday, no rain race day.

12.30 p.m. R1 6 Dublin Rose (3 f O'Reilly - Irish Dream) - Shafiq Rusof; freshened since resuming with a good effort for fourth in a strong field for the Maiden 3YO 1000 metres on 12 August at Ruakaka. Naturally talented, with a second and third from three starts as a two-year-old, she pleased when trialling here a fortnight ago, has the addition of blinkers in the $10,000 Maiden 3YO 1150 metres and looks a strong chance from barrier two given her race day experience over a number of rivals.

2.15 p.m. R4 10 Spirit of Galway (3 f Rip Van Winkle - Galway) - Shafiq Rusof; has staged two strong finishes for second and third respectively, over 1000m and 1200m at Taupo, with Shafiq aboard, and appears ideally suited stepping up in the $10,000 Maiden 1400 metres. A three-quarter sister to Group One winner Shillelagh (Savabeel) and stakes' winner Grazia (Savabeel), both trained by Te Akau, she too is naturally talented and warrants favouritism in this field.

5.14 p.m. R9 6 Pacific Coast (4 g Snitzel - Malibu Road) - Chelsea Burdan (a4); followed a notable fresh-up fourth with a comprehensive win in the $10,000 Rating 65 1200 metres on 19 October at Tauranga, ridden by fellow Te Akau apprentice Nik Bakar (suspended until 2 Nov.). Ideally drawn (3) in the $11,000 Rating 72 1150 metres, a winner of two from five starts, he brings the right form to rate a top four chance first time up in grade.