Last year’s Tarzino Trophy Day at Hastings will live long in the memory of Sam Bergerson.
Just a month into entering a training partnership with Mark Walker at Te Akau Racing, Bergerson recorded his first Group One victory courtesy of Skew Wiff in the Tarzino Trophy (1400m), while on the undercard, Tokyo Tycoon and Quintessa added to his stakes-winning haul when taking out the Listed El Roca – Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) and Gr.3 Gold Trail Stakes (1400m) respectively.
“It was an incredible day. We had four winners that day and Imperatriz won and kicked off her Australian campaign by beating Giga Kick,” Bergerson said.
“It was also great to do it (first Group One win) with the Waikato Stud team and Mark Chittick (owner-breeder), who is a fantastic bloke, and I have known him for a while, not only through Te Akau, but through Dad and the local rugby club here at Matamata as well. He is a fantastic supporter of New Zealand racing and to do it with him was pretty cool. It is certainly something I will never forget.
“We are looking to go back-to-back (in the Tarzino Trophy).”
The order of entry for the first Group One of the season was released on Thursday, with four Te Akau runners featuring in the top 10, including defending champion Skew Wiff (8), Campionessa (3), Quintessa (9), and Romancing The Moon (10).
“There is still another three or four weeks to it (Tarzino Trophy), so there is plenty of water to go under the bridge, but we are shaping up with a couple of nice chances,” Bergerson said.
Skew Wiff and Quintessa had and exhibition gallop at Tauranga last week and are set to head to Te Rapa on Saturday for a star-studded trial over 1100m, which includes reigning New Zealand Horse of the Year Sharp ‘N’ Smart and Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) contender Mark Twain.
Bergerson has been pleased with the way Skew Wiff is tracking into her spring preparation, with the mare set to follow a similar path to what she did last year.
“She campaigned in the autumn in Australia and was a touch disappointing, but she has come back and seems like the same old Skew Wiff,” Bergerson said.
“She is not overly big, but she is a tough and gritty mare who can be quite cantankerous at times. Her work has been good and she went to Tauranga last week and had a gallop between races with a few others. She had a good blow on pulling up and seems to have stripped a bit fitter from that.
“Saturday should tighten her up nicely and then it will be two weeks into the Foxbridge (Gr.2, 1200m) and another two weeks into the Group One.”
While Skew Wiff will head to Hastings to tackle the Tarzino Trophy, Bergerson said Quintessa is only a possibility, with the leading trainers weighing up whether to send her over to their Cranbourne base.
“She is a possibility to turn up at Hawke’s Bay, but she may go to Melbourne. We will just get through the trial on Saturday,” he said.
“She had a fantastic season last season, she won at Taupo really early in the spring and then was still going deep into the autumn. She is quite an unassuming mare, but she gets to the races and knows what it is all about, is really gritty and sticks her neck out and tries really hard every time. I don’t think she has gone a bad race in her whole career.
“She seems to be coming up nicely and is one to look forward to for the spring.”
Romancing The Moon trialled over 900m at Te Rapa on Tuesday where she was runner-up behind Group One winner Legarto, and Bergerson said her spring plans are also yet to be locked down.
“We are still tossing up with her about whether we will go there,” he said. “We have tossed in the nomination and we will see how the next few weeks go and work it out.
“We were really happy with her trial on Tuesday. Wiremu Pinn rode her and he was pleased with her and she has pulled up well. She was beaten by a very good horse in Legarto, who seems to be tracking in nicely to Hawke’s Bay.”
Group One winner Campionessa is the highest in order for the Tarzino Trophy for Te Akau, with just Legarto and Mustang Valley ahead of her, and she will have her first public hit-out of the season in the 1100m trial at Te Rapa on Saturday.
“All going well, she will go there (Tarzino Trophy),” Bergerson said. “She is another one who had a fantastic season and managed to nab a Group One last year.
“Last year she didn’t come up in the spring, so we are mindful of that this time around, but she seems in fantastic order at home. She is showing us really good signs heading into the spring.
“Opie (Bosson, jockey) galloped her the other morning and she was bucking and squealing coming off the track. It is the same old horse we are used to.
“She is another good, tough mare who has thrived off her racing. She seems to get better the more we do with her, so fingers crossed we get through that trial well on Saturday and then we can press on to maybe the Foxbridge but could potentially miss that and trial again and then go straight into the Tarzino.”
After clinching the New Zealand Trainers’ Premiership in his first season of training, Bergerson is excited for what the new term has instore.
“I am extremely grateful to play a really small part in a fantastic team,” he said. “It starts with Dave (Ellis) and Karyn (Fenton-Ellis) at the top, and Mark (Walker) and I are very lucky to be training the horses we are.
“To do it with Mark has been fantastic, he has been a great role model for me since he has come back from Singapore. We are pretty good mates now and he has taught me so much. He has guided me through but at the same time he has given me free rein to make some decisions.
“We have got a fantastic team at Matamata, down at Christchurch, and now at Cranbourne. There are some very capable people amongst the team at the coalface every morning and working some long hours, and I am lucky to have my name in the book.
“I feel very lucky to be in the position I am.”
