Local trainers Michael and Matthew Pitman are hoping they can put some breathing room between themselves and Andrew Carston in the race to the South Island Trainers’ Premiership when they head to Riccarton’s synthetic meeting on Thursday.
A four-win bag at Awapuni on Saturday has provided a confident platform for talented apprentice jockey Wiremu Pinn to launch the next chapter in his burgeoning career.
Te Akau trainer Mark Walker set a national record for wins in a season when Fellini won the NZB Online Yearling Sale On Gavelhouse Plus 1400 for three-year-olds at Pukekohe on Saturday.
Two-year-old gelding Cu Chulainn backed-up his debut four-length victory at Wingatui earlier in the month with another good performance to land the Petersens Jewellers Ladies Bracelet Two-Year-Old.
A confidence-boosting first stakes victory in Saturday’s Listed NZB Insurance Stakes (1400m) at Wingatui has laid the platform for proven black-type performer Romancing The Moon to embark on a Group One mission later this month.
Mark Walker would love nothing more than to see the jockey statue in the Matamata racecourse birdcage painted in the colours of a Te Akau Racing-trained winner.
The Te Akau Racing team brought up an inter-island stakes double within 15 minutes as Perfect Scenario took out the Gr.3 White Robe Lodge (1600m) at Wingatui and Family Ties in the Listed Grangewilliam Stud Oaks Prelude (1800m) at New Plymouth.
