Two Te Rapa Wins

Te Akau Racing was thrilled with the team at Te Rapa today - a great day with two winners and some very encouraging placings too!

The first of our two winners was the blue-blood Imperium ..

While the resuming win over a mile by Imperium (4 g Encosta De Lago - Ethereal, by Rhythm) came as a surprise to some the owners at Te Rapa, it was not outside the realms of possibility when taking into consideration the enormity of his debut performance.

In October last year Imperium steamed home from the rear for third over 1400 metres at Avondale, and ended his first campaign four starts later with an effortless win over 2100 metres on dead/slow footing at Woodville.

David Ellis, manager of the Te Akau 2013 Breeding Syndicate that owns the strapping individual, said: “It's great to see some of the owners here and to win with this staying horse first up is a great tribute to the way the stable is going. All credit to the stable staff and Steve (Autridge) and Jamie (Richards) for preparing him so well in training. Also, thanks to the Waikato Racing Club to have such a good track after 70mls of rain in the past week”.

“It was a great effort by the boys to have him ready to go such a good race first up, and a really good ride by Matt (Cameron),” said Ellis. “We'd like to think he could be in a really nice race by Christmas."

To the trained eye, despite finishing rearward in heavy going, Imperium displayed good late work in the second of his two recent trials over 1200 metres at Te Teko. He looked in terrific order when parading and the combination of a smart ride by Matt Cameron, and blinkers on to sharpen him up, was the key to his success.

Without pace early, Imperium was last at the 800 metres before being sent him forward to range three wide at the 600m. He led in centre track on straightening, quickened when asked to extend at the 300m and never flinched in his run to the line - knuckling down when tackled late to score by a head.

On footing rated Slow8, Imperium ran the mile in 1:40.6 and the final 600m in 36.9 to win The Clubhouse Cafe & Sports Bar Rating 65 1600 metres.

“It was a little bit unexpected,” said co-trainer Jamie Richards. “Stevie (Autridge) said to leave the blinkers and the tongue tie off at the trials, and he's come to the races and putting them on has really helped.

“He (Matt Cameron) sent him early as he can be a bit one paced, so it was good to see him get his ears back and really try,” said Richards.

Matt Cameron said: “They eased up a bit across the top and I thought now's the chance. He's had a couple of trials and should be fit enough and he crept into it and held them off nicely.

“Obviously the breeding goes along way, and he had that benchmark to reach before he even went to the races, but he's definitely stepping up and he's grown up a hell of a lot too. So, it will take him along way,” said Cameron.

Imperium caught the eye of Te Akau principal David Ellis at the 2013 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sales and he outlaid $425,000 for the colt from the Pencarrow Stud draft, before offering him as part of the Te Akau 2013 Breeding Syndicate.

His dam Ethereal, from Romanee Conti (Sir Tristram), bred and owned by Sir Peter & Philip Vela and trained by Sheila Laxon, became a household name when winning the 2001 Melbourne Cup (Gr. 1, 3200m). With additional Group One wins in the Queensland Oaks (Gr. 1, 2400m), Caulfield Cup (Gr. 1, 2400m) and BMW (Gr. 1, 2400m), Ethereal amassed earnings of over $6 million with eight wins from twenty-one starts.

Furthermore, his grand-dam Romanee Conti won the Hong Kong International Cup (HK1, 1800m) in 1993, on good to yielding ground, in one of five stakes victories.

Picture credit - www.raceimages.co.nz