Up-and-comer Akrotiri passed his first staying test with flying colours at The Valley on Saturday, heading a New Zealand-bred trifecta in the A$130,000 Chandler Macleod Handicap (2040m).
Akrotiri jumped well from the starting gates and jockey Celine Gaudray allowed the Tarzino gelding to stride forward, taking the lead turning out of the straight on the first occasion. He dictated terms from there and kicked hard before turning for home, putting himself out of reach of Interlinked and Miss Tarzy.
Trained by Cindy Alderson at Cranbourne, Akrotiri has now had six starts for three wins and A$124,350 in stakes.
“Cindy gave me a lot of confidence before I hopped on today,” Gaudray said. “She thought he’d run a good race, and she just wanted me to keep it smooth. He’s a big-striding horse, so I just let him find his rhythm. He was too strong in the end.
“He’s very inexperienced. He didn’t handle the corner that well today, but he’ll take good improvement from this and there’ll be no problems going further.”
Alderson was always confident that the step up beyond 1600m would bring Akrotiri into his element.
“He’s a good young stayer,” he said. “Blinkers were off for the first time today. Celine did a great job getting him out of the barriers and giving him a perfect run.
“He’s a big, long, lanky horse. He can’t really accelerate when he’s caught back behind them on the fence in a stop-start race, but today, with free running and a well-judged ride from Celine, he went really well.
“It was good to see him relaxing and striding along so nicely today. I’ve got no doubt he’ll do 2400m, and maybe he can even go further than that. Who knows?”
Akrotiri was bred by Marie Leicester and is out of the Group One-placed Stravinsky mare Tsarina Belle, who is also the dam of the Listed Wanganui Cup (2040m) winner La Flora Belle.
Leicester will offer a half-brother to Akrotiri by Belardo through Haunui Farm’s Book 2 Karaka draft next week.
Akrotiri was offered by Lilywhites Lodge at the 2021 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka, where he was passed in. He was a trials placegetter at Cambridge in July of 2022 before relocating across the Tasman.