Te Akau's No 7 in Ashburton?

Tomorrow sees the running of the Listed Barneswood Farm Stakes at Ashburton, a race Te Akau has won six times, when earlier known as the Ray Coupland Stakes.  It is an important and traditional lead in to the Group 1 NZ 2000 and 1000 Guineas - and Te Akau will be represented by a colt and a filly in our quest for the seventh scalp - as The Informant writes:

Blinkers and a drier track should be enough to see Heroic Valour return to his winning ways when he contests the Listed Barneswood Farm Stakes at Ashburton tomorrow (Saturday).

The Fastnet Rock colt tasted defeat for the first time in his career when he struck a Slow8 track for the Gr. 2 Hawke's Bay Guineas three weeks ago. While Ashburton was rated a Dead4 when the fields came out on Wednesday, Metvue does forecast some rain, particularly today.

Co-trainer Jamie Richards felt the soft track was the major contributor to the Hastings defeat, but he added that connections have been considering blinkers for a while and decided now was the time.

“He was always coming south, either for this race or the 1600 (Zacinto Stakes), but we decided 1400 would fit better with the gear change,” he said. “We'll see a more focused racehorse.”

Heroic Valour is one of three colts and six North Islanders paid up for the race.

O'Naturelle, according to co-trainer Jamie Richards, should also appreciate the 1400. He said the O'Reilly filly had come through her Canterbury Belle run in good order and although the nine draw was of some concern, he thought it would work out alright in the smaller field from the 1400.

“It will give her more room,” he said.

Richards believes O'Naturelle can be competitive against the males but from a 1000 Guineas perspective he is more interested in how she fronts up against the other fillies.

“She'll have to be competitive against the males if she is going to measure up to the good South Island fillies,” he said.