“While we would have loved to get her over there who knows, it could work out for the best as she will be able to have a nice spell here.
“It will be disappointing for the owners but she has had a wonderful season and won her Group 1 and has so much in front of her.”
Lara Antipova goes to the paddock as the winner of all four of her starts, including the Sistema Stakes on Champions Day at the highest level and a pair of Group 2s in the Matamata Breeders and Wakefield Challenge Stakes.
She is certain to be voted our Juvenile of the Year.
While Lara Antipova’s season ended on Saturday, her stablemate Belle Cheval thrilled her trainers with strong work on the Matamata course proper.
“She worked really well and definitely hasn’t gone backwards since her run in the NZB Kiwi,” Bergerson said.
“So she will be on the plane to Sydney tonight [Monday] and Zac Lloyd has been booked to ride her in the Vinery.”
That means stepping up from 1500m to 2000m for Belle Cheval and meeting New Zealand’s best staying filly Ohope Wins, who is now trained by Chris Waller and will be ridden by James McDonald.
“It will be really interesting because our horse is stepping up a fair way in distance and Ohope Wins is dropping back to 2000 after winning the Oaks [2400m] but we will know how good she is,” Bergerson said.
The TAB have Ohope Wins as the $2.20 favourite for the Vinery while Belle Cheval is the $4.50 third-favourite.
The stable’s focus won’t just be on Sydney though as Te Akau, which passed 100 wins in New Zealand for the season on the weekend, has strong chances in both the Group 1s at Trentham’s huge meeting on Saturday.
Seize The Day is favourite for the $550,000 Manawatū Sires’ Produce Stakes, with Opie Bosson confirmed to ride in a Group 1 lacking black-type depth.
“We think he is a really good horse but one that had taken a bit of time to mature and really come into his own,” Bergerson said.
“He is in a really good place at the moment. He has got a bit keen in his runs so far so we are hoping he can settle over the 1400m.”
Bergerson and Walker will send three mares to the $600,000 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes in Quintessa, Captured By Love and Qali Al Farrasha, with Bosson on Quintessa.
“She maybe peaked on her run fresh up in the Dubai Classic at Ellerslie last start but she also had to carry the topweight that day, whereas she is back to weight this week,” Bergerson said, adding that Quintessa “is probably our best chance” but it’s “hard to split her and Captured By Love, they are probably quite similar mares”.
Bergerson warned that neither would want too much rain, with the weather in Wellington forecast to turn wet on Thursday and Friday.
The Breeders Stakes field is holding together well, with the biggest withdrawal being Jaarffi, who was still the $5 equal-favourite with the TAB on Monday but is in the paddock and definitely not starting.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
