Awapuni mare Town Cryer will attempt to add to her stakes record when she heads north to Te Rapa on Saturday to contest the Gr.2 Travis Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa.
She placed in the Gr.2 Awapuni Gold Cup (2100m) at Trentham last month, where trainer Roydon Bergerson said she raced too keenly, and he is hoping she is a more relaxed this weekend.
“She was just a bit too keen on the bridle and she (Sam Spratt, jockey) couldn’t get her to come back to her. She over-raced, which she doesn’t usually do,” Bergerson said.
“It was her first time over ground for a while and she just didn’t relax. In saying that, I don’t think she would have beaten Waitak anyway.”
Town Cryer will jump from barrier 11 this weekend with Joe Doyle in the saddle.
A day prior, Bergerson is looking forward to returning to race on his home track’s recently renovated grass track, where he will be represented by Charlotte’s Way in the Flipp Transport 1400.
“It has been a while, but it will be great to get back (racing at Awapuni), I am looking forward to it,” Bergerson said.
Charlotte’s Way was runner-up over 1400m at Trentham last month, and Bergerson is hoping she can go one better on ANZAC Day.
“She was pretty brave the other day,” he said. “She is a funny, little mare, she has got to have things go her way.
“She has worked up really well since, I have kept her fresh and she seems to be better three weeks between runs.
“We have done a lot of different things with her, like swimming, jumping, and she does that every other day. Her work yesterday morning was really good. I am very happy with her.”
On Sunday, Bergerson will head to Wanganui with two runners, including last-start winner Vee Vee in the Jo Rathbone Stables 1600 and Bradman in the Fraser Auret Racing Open 1350.
“Bradman is coming up super this year, he has really strengthened up and finally matured,” Bergerson said. “Half of his life he has spent in the judicial reports. He has come up really well and the aim is the Winter Cup (Gr.3, 1600m) with him.
“He had a tough time the other day, three-wide with no cover first-up, but I am pretty happy with him.”
Meanwhile, Bergerson is ruing his decision to run his former star juvenile Wolverine on Waverley’s Heavy9 track on Easter Monday, with the now five-year-old mare not handling the conditions and finishing last in her 1200m contest.
“That was my fault, it was a terrible decision to run,” Bergerson said. “I was just trying to get her to Rotorua (Gr.3 Rotorua ITM Stakes, 1400m) but I should have just gone with my initiative and scratched her and given her a gallop on Friday and gone to the trials on Tuesday. You make mistakes in this game.
“I thought she would get away with it because the times they were running weren’t so bad. The track was cutting up obviously, but they said they were getting through it. He (Triston Moodley, jockey) said it was just like her wheels were spinning around and she just couldn’t get any traction. It was pretty disappointing.”
Bergerson has yet to lock in any firm plans with his mare and said he will speak with Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis before finalising any decision.
While contemplating the next steps with Wolverine, juvenile stablemate Too Sweet has headed to the spelling paddock following her placing in last Saturday’s Listed Star Way Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie.
“She just can’t get a draw,” Bergerson said. “She was tough. She tripped on the winner’s heel and she got back and couldn’t get in, so they had to work forward. She was really brave. He (Masa Hashizume, jockey) said that she looked like she was going to win halfway down, she really started to get through her gears, and then that horse ran out the last bit.”
It brings the curtain down on a frustrating but successful season for her connections, which resulted in two wins and two placings from six starts, including victory in the Gr.2 Eclipse Stakes (1200m), and she accrued more than $190,000 in prizemoney. “She has just had no luck in her last three starts,” Bergerson said. “We will give her a decent spell and bring her back in for the spring, whether we aim her at the (NZ 1000) Guineas (Gr.1, 1600m) or the Karaka Millions I’m not sure.”
