Horse racing: Sam Bergerson thinks Qali Al Farrasha ready to bounce back to form

Qali Al Farrasha is the best-performed mare in the Travis Stakes at Te Rapa tomorrow. Photo/ Kenton Wright

The $150,000 Travis Stakes at Ta Rapa tomorrow may come down to one simple question.

Is Qali Al Farrasha at her best?

The problem for punters is co-trainer Sam Bergerson doesn’t really know so will be as interested as they are to find out. The daughter of Almanzor is a Group 1 weight-for-age regular, a 102-rater against opposition predominantly rated under 90, so the race conditions suit her beautifully.

While she has only won three of her 22 career starts, Qali Al Farrasha beat Group 1 winners Provence and Jaarffi in the Breeders Stakes at Pukekohe this season and last season was placed in three Group 1s and finished second in the Counties Cup.

But Bergerson, who trains her with Mark Walker, admits it is hard to line up that stellar form against some more sedate recent runs.

“It was really hard to get a line of her at Trentham last start when the race suited those who were up and in,” Bergerson said.

“Before that, going back a bit in the summer, she was not too far away in the best races and we have no reason to doubt she can race up to that so sit really looks an ideal race for her.”

Perhaps one of the best indicators of the faith that syndicators Te Akau have in Qali Al Farrasha’s future is the fact she is not going to be sold at public auction this year, unlike stablemates Quintessa and Captured By Love, a common way of determining the value of syndicated mares with so many owners.

“When you look at her, she still has some furnishing to do and we think she can be a better mare next season,” Bergerson said.

“With so many our big-name mares having been retired, we think she could be one of the best female gallopers in the open grade next term.”

With that class and Opie Bosson on the saddle tomorrow, about the only thing punters should worry about is the Te Rapa track.

If it gets anywhere in the soft 5-6 range, that should be enough to make Qali Al Farrasha the one to beat, even though her absolute best form has been on better ground.

Another factor in her favour is the lack of depth against her tomorrow, with Khanshe, who beat her home at Trentham last start, her only rival to really suggest she is in the same class – although Blue Sky At Night is a multiple Cups winner racing below her best.

The Bergerson/Walker stable is hoping to have three starters in tomorrow’s $100,000 Windsor Park Cambridge Breeders Stakes but will have to wait to see if Avantaggia gets in off the ballot.

Bergerson was adamant Drops Of God was the horse to beat until she drew 18, which will undoubtedly make her task more difficult with the rail back in the true for the capacity field.

“She is a really good filly who went enormous behind Belle Cheval in the Almanzor Plate last start, back on Karaka Millions night,” he said.

“She worked with King’s English at Ellerslie last Saturday and they both worked super so he might shock a few in the same race too.”

The Breeders Stakes is a hot field, though with plenty of talented youngsters being aimed at one of their last chances at black type before that hunt gets more difficult next term.

Punters face some challenging support races tomorrow but Bergerson warns them to consider debutante System Of Play (Race 3, No 3) as the Ready To Run graduate takes on opposition light on race-day experience.

“And I think we can go close in the Canterbury Gold Cup at Riccarton with We You Wish For [R6, No 5],” he added.

The stable will also line-up Zantabulous (R6, No.12) at today’s Ōtaki meeting in a rare Friday black-type race.

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.