Racing: Te Akau move to strike out colt but are feeling love

Campionessa winning at Te Rapa, in December. Photo / Race Images

One of Te Akau’s stars of the spring returns the day after another has been sidelined.

The racing giant has had to pull Group 1-winning colt Move To Strike out of the 2000 Guineas and his other spring assignments after he was diagnosed with a breathing issue.

The exciting three-year-old raced well below his best at Hastings two weeks ago and extensive veterinary examinations have revealed he will need a tie-forward operation.

That involves a horse’s larynx being tied forward to prevent its soft palate from displacing and cutting off the horse’s airways.

“The tie-forward operation has a far greater success rate than tie-back surgery so we are very confident of getting him back,” says Te Akau boss David Ellis. “After the surgery, he will obviously have a break and then we will set him for races like the Telegraph [Trentham, January 4] or the Railway [Ellerslie, January 25].”

Being a Group 1-winning colt by champion stallion I Am Invincible, Move To Strike is potentially one of the most valuable racehorses in the country, particularly if he can return to racing and win an open age Group1 such as either of those two glamour sprints.

Although he is gone for the spring, stablemate Captured By Love remains the favourite for next week’s Hawke’s Bay Guineas and last Saturday’s Riccarton maiden winner Age Of Discovery is into second favouritism of the 2000 Guineas.

The stable goes into the relaunch of Ellerslie tomorrow in great form, with four winners at Cambridge on Wednesday and Campionessa resumes tomorrow a week later than expected.

Last season’s Zabeel Classic winner was to have started at Te Rapa last Sunday but the heavy track saw her scratched and she now meets Orchestral and Habana in the open 1400m.

While Campionessa is better know as a 1600-2000m mare she did win the Auckland Breeders Stakes fresh up over 1400m last season, beating Faraglioni and Malt Time, so could sprint well fresh tomorrow.

Originally lumped with 62.5kg, she gets a 3kg claim with Ngakau Hailey aboard so now carries less than Orchestral and Habana.

“We think she can race well this weekend and then her next aim is the Livamol [Hastings, October 12],” says Ellis.

The other open race at Ellerslie tomorrow is the 2100m handicap which looks ideal for Nereus, who was heavily backed to win over 1600m at Hastings two weeks ago but should be better suited by tomorrow’s longer trip.

He finds himself up in the weights with 59.5kg for a horse who has only had 11 starts.

But he did win the Group 2 Awapuni Gold Cup last season and it is hard to make a case to back any of his rivals to beat him tomorrow.

● Although Ellerslie is the major northern meeting this weekend, today’s Taupō card sees some promising maidens who could have black-type goals before too long.

Trainers with three-year-olds looking for a good surface are heading there and horses such as Kitty Flash (R2, No 11), Love Poem (R5, No 9) and Sought After (R6, No 10) are just a few racing today who could be better than maiden grade.

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.