Quality mare dropping down in grade in Tauranga feature

Qali Al Farrasha would appreciate a good track at Tauranga tomorrow. Photo/Kenton Wright

Trainer Sam Bergerson thinks he has found the right race for Qali Al Farrasha at Tauranga tomorrow but he isn’t sure it will be the right track.

Bergerson and training partner Mark Walker drop their high-class mare back to Group 2 company in the $150,000 Ultimate Mazda Japan Trophy, and love the conditions of the race.

“She has just been struggling to challenge the absolute best horses in Group 1s this summer but still going good races,” says Bergerson.

“So going back down to Group 2 with only 55kg on her back is ideal.

“I know Sterling Express has been racing really well in the top grade and will be hard to beat but at her best she would have the measure of most of the rest of these.

“But there is a lot of rain forecast and that is a concern, not only for her but a few others of ours on Saturday.”

While many of the stock of her sire Almanzor have been proficient on tracks with the sting out of them, all of Qali Al Farrasha’s best form has been on good tracks, so if the rain comes in the next 24 hours, her chances diminish.

Sterling Express is the horse to beat but the race has plenty of in-form horses who could test the favourite especially as a wetter track throws barrier draw logic out of the window.

Bergerson says both the stable’s three-year-old Queen’s Evidence and Sibling Rivalry are going well leading into tomorrow’s three-year-old race but they will need to be as it has come up super strong.

“We probably weren’t expecting it to come up that strong with a lot of really nice horses in there.”

Egyptian Queen (R5, No.8) gets into the open 1200m tomorrow well with apprentice Hayley Hassman reducing the mare’s handicap to 53kg, although one of her key rivals in December also drops from 59kg to 56kg with Sam McNab aboard.

December also has the advantage of having won on tracks rated both a Soft 7 and a Heavy 8 so if the rain comes he can still perform near his best.

Meanwhile, the plans for three of the Walker/Bergerson stars from last Saturday’s Champions Day are now set in stone, with two pressing on but one pulling stumps.

“Lara Antipova is going to the Cranbourne barn and the race down the straight at Flemington in a few weeks is her most likely target,” says Bergerson.

“All going well, Belle Cheval is heading to the Vinery at Rosehill on March 28 but He Who Dares will go for a spell.

“He went three huge races behind Well Written in the last two months and deserves a break.

“I was talking to Opie and he thinks ultimately he might be a better straight out sprinter but he has a lot of options next season.”

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.