Te Akau Racing are hoping they can add to their southern haul at Riccarton’s Synthetic meeting on Friday, where they will be represented by a trio of runners.
Their Riccarton barn’s season tally currently sits at 62 wins for the season, which could be furthered on Friday by Treaty Of Paris, Rue de Rivoli and Kith 'n' Kin.
New Zealand’s leading racing stable have established a permanent training base at Riccarton, in addition to Matamata, Singapore, and Cranbourne, which has been overseen by Hunter Durrant, Ashley Handley, and Kendyll Lee.
Te Akau Racing has a strong record of training horses in the South Island, highlighted by seven victories in the GR.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and six in the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m).
Te Akau principal David Ellis and trainer Mark Walker originally leased Belmont Lodge stables at Rangiora, in 2002, owned by clients Geoff and Jenetta Taylor, where stable foreman Gus Clutterbuck and his wife, Karen, helped pave the way for Walker to win five premierships before the same combination set up stables for Te Akau in 2011 at Kranji racecourse in Singapore.
“We’ve had a long association of training horses in the South Island, and in essence it’s been great to give young horses the experience of travelling and training in a different environment,” Walker said.
“We’ve had plenty of success with two and three-year-olds, winning stakes races, during their preparations geared around the Cup Carnival each year in November at Riccarton.
“With a permanent base established, it means we’ve got access to the South Island racing calendar all year round and it gives us the opportunity of placing horses to the best advantage.
“It’s great for improving the commercial viability of fillies and mares if they can win black type races in the South Island, and it’s also worked with success this season with the sale of Nucleozor to Hong Kong after he won the Welcome Stakes (Listed, 1000m).
“Training down there was great when we had the stables at Rangiora, with Gus and Karen (Clutterbuck) in charge, and now under the tutelage of Hunter Durrant at Riccarton it’s been great for continuing to develop horses.”
Durrant has enjoyed leading the Riccarton stable and contributing to Te Akau Racing’s overall premiership success.
“It’s certainly not just me, but Ashley and Kendyll have been a big part of the success here, as have all our staff,” Durrant said.
“We’ve got really good senior horse people that can step in for each other and know the routine. Naomi Warrander is here every morning and rides a lot of work, and Ashvin (Goindasamy), and Jason (Laking) ride work for us here too.
“I try and ride as many as I can as well, so that I’ve got an understanding of how they’re going. It’s a big help to get a feel for them.
“Everyone knows their roles and most importantly the horses that come down here just seem to settle in so well.
“Even some of the busier horses, like Insatiable and quite a few of the mares, just come down here and relax and can focus on their job as a racehorse. The environment is more open, they can get outside in the yards, and training facilities are set up pretty well so that we can jump horses and work them in different ways.
“I enjoyed my time down here when first spending three months with the Te Akau horses leading into Cup Week two years ago, and then Dave (Ellis) gave me the option to come here full-time this season. I was keen to come back. I like the city of Christchurch and its a pace of life.
“I think people realise that Te Akau is helping to bolster the quality of racing in the South Island, and given the field sizes and horses it’s continuing to strengthen.
“I think the number of wins we’ve had from a 20-horse barn here this season has been a great help for the owners and also adding to the overall total wins for Mark (Walker) and Sam (Bergerson). Roughly, the Riccarton stable has provided 30 percent of the wins and stakes wins.
“We won four races on a day at Riccarton, which was one of the highlights for the season. Horses like Perfect Scenario thrive down here and it was great to see him defend his title in the Weight-For-Age at Wingatui.
“And the calibre of two-year-olds we have had here this season has been really good: Nucleozor, Discretion Rules, and even Quintefeuille and Colonel Warden who were stakes placed here on debut.
“Nucleozor had a great brain on him, like an older horse that had been there, done that, and nothing was ever an issue. You could work him on his own like a pony and knew you had a good horse underneath you. He was unbeaten, had plenty of gears, and he should be able to match them in Hong Kong."