RAGAMUFFIN – 4th Raceday win – Woodville 17th November 2024 – Craig Grylls aboard
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Headline News
Fortuna Owners Day has been postponed and will now be held Sunday ninth of February 2025
TE AKAU APPOINTS NEW ASSISTANT TRAINER
Shares in our recent RTR Sale acquisition, the 2yo Filly by Swiss Ace, are disappearing quickly – just 11% left
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Fortuna has five runners this week (with two on debut), one in Victoria Friday, two at Riccarton Friday and two at Trentham SaturdayMornington – Friday
ZEDWILLDO contests the Maiden 2460 meter event – race 1 at 12:50pm Aus time (2:50 pm NZ time) – notable rider change with Will Gordon taking the mount. Had bought good form into his last start at Geelong on the 27th of Nov, with a 3rd and a 2nd placing at his two previous runs, but was poorly ridden at Geelong with his rider just giving him no chance – an out and out stayer he needs to be ridden cold and if that can be pulled off today, he is a solid each way chance in this – TAB says “rockhard fit and looks well placed, so expected to get chance this time” – showing $4.80/$1.60
Riccarton Synthetic – Friday
PORTIA CATONIS races in the maiden 1200 meter event – race 4 at 4:39pm with Harry Grace aboard. This is her second race day start and on debut at Timaru 21st of November she was very disappointing, beaten 18 lengths – her work since has been good. She gets the synthetic this time, blinkers go on and we are certainly looking for her to show significant improvement this time. Has a wide draw to contend with – TAB says “Wide draw again – give another chance” showing $13/$3.60
QUEEEN CONSORT makes her debut in the Maiden 1200 meter event – race 4 at 4:39pm with Wiremu Pinn aboard. This lovely three year old daughter of Eminent has taken time to mature, but trialed nicely at Te Awamutu on the 18th of November – has settled in nicely to the Riccarton base and is poised to give a good showing here on debut – TAB says “stable has good strike rate with first starters” – showing $4.50/$1.80
Trentham – Saturday
MAROKOPA FALLS makes her debut in the 2yo 1000 meter event – race 1 at 12 Noon with Craig Grylls aboard. She presents as an interesting runner in this event – only purchased in June at the Gold Coast National Yearling sale she has come to hand very quickly – has only had one trial at Taupo where she finished full of running but with no luck in the run home – has impressed the training team significantly enough that they are content to have her make her debut off the back of that one trial – TAB says “shapes as a prospect” – showing $4.20/$1.28
STAR SHADOW resumes in the 3yo 1400 metre event – Race 3 at 1.10pm with Michael McNab to ride – a winner on debut at Otaki over 1300m in April, she has had three trials to prepare for this race – set to give a bold showing. TAB says “multiple class dropper resuming – triple trial winner – win chance for sure” – showing $5.50/$1.80
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Trackwork – Fortuna Runners
Tuesday 3rd December – Matamata
Star Shadow (O Bosson) worked over 1000 metres in 1.06.5, home in 37.0.
Marokopa Falls (O Bosson) worked in company over 800 metres in 52.2, home in 36.6.
Inca Belle (H Hassman) worked over 1000 metres in 1.04.5, home in 37.0.
Wednesday 4th December – Cranbourne
Dreamflight (C Wilson) worked over 800 metres in 54.8, home in 37.92
Leaderboard (L Winks) worked over 1000 metres in 1.13.4, home in 41.92.
Riccarton
Sailing Away (H Durrant) worked over 1200 metres in 1.28.7, home in 37.98.
Thursday 5th December – Matamata
Star Shadow (O Bosson) worked over 1000 metres at three-quarter pace in 1.11.2, home in 40.6.
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Other News
Fortuna Owners Day has been postponed and will now be held Sunday 9th of February 2025
Sadly we have been forced to postpone this event – this due to the fact that Jessica has had a period of illness and underwent surgery in Waikato Hospital 13th of November and although subsequently discharged, further complications developed and she has been readmitted to hospital where she is undergoing further treatment – all of this means it is logistically impossible for us to proceed with the Owners Day on Sunday, the 15th of December as planned, hence the deferral to Sunday 9th of February.
I know that will be disappointing to our big group of owners who had planned to attend this day, but I’m sure you appreciate the circumstances make it impossible to proceed. We can look forward to hosting you all on Sunday, the 9th of February.
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TE AKAU APPOINTS NEW ASSISTANT TRAINER
Te Akau Racing is delighted to announce the appointment of Hunter Durrant to the role of Assistant Trainer, acknowledging his important role in the stable’s continued success.
“We recognise Hunter’s dedication and expertise, especially in managing our Riccarton operation under the guidance of our trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson,” said Te Akau Principal David Ellis CNZM.
“Hunter has been exceptional since we established our permanent base at Riccarton,” Ellis said.
“He’s a skilled horseman with a calm demeanor, sharp instincts, and the ability to connect with our owners and team. This promotion is a well-deserved recognition of his hard work and leadership.”
Durrant joins a distinguished lineup of assistant trainers, including Nicole Shailer at Matamata in the North Island and Ben Gleeson at Cranbourne in Victoria, who play crucial roles in ensuring seamless operations across Te Akau’s stables.
Last season Te Akau’s southern operation delivered exceptional results – earning three prestigious titles at the South Island Racing Awards, including Champion Two-Year-Old for Nucleozor and Champion Miler for Perfect Scenario.
This season the seamless success continues, fresh off a NZ Cup carnival week that included Captured By Love winning the Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas and Mehzebeen the Group 3 NZ Cup and Listed Metropolitan Stakes.
The wins this season have included a landmark moment on 28 September 28 when Age of Discovery delivered Mark Walker’s 2000th career training victory.
Hunter’s promotion solidifies Te Akau’s commitment to excellence in racing.
David added:
“We love supporting South Island racing and first had stables in 2002 at Rangiora. It was timely to set up permanently again in the South last season, with the stables at Riccarton, and Hunter has been instrumental in that success.
“Hunter’s promotion is not only about rewarding hard work but also about setting the stage for even greater success.”
John says “We have got to know Hunter well over the years in his time at Te Akau, firstly with him being based at Matamata and then as a travelling foreman with runners going to Australia and more recently, heading up the highly successful Te Akau Riccarton operation from which several of the Fortuna runners have had success. He is certainly a very talented horseman and this promotion to assistant trainer is well deserved”
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Shares in our recent RTR Sale acquisition, the 2yo Filly by Swiss Ace, are disappearing quickly – just 11% left – see more below
FORTUNA secures a lovely Swiss Ace Filly at the 2024 Ready To Run Sale
The 2yo Filly by Swiss Ace out of Sigiriya
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We had a highly successful day 20th November at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale. The sale itself was very successful with many high priced lots and this was no surprise, given the buoyancy in the Global Racing market at the present time, particularly in Australia and with a strong buying bench from Hong Kong
As always we like to buy to budget and with a very high focus on “physical type” and so we needed to be thinking very much outside the square in terms of the lots we identified – one of the things about the Ready to Run sale is that it is very popular with the Asian market, in particular Hong Kong and also with the closure of Singapore, the Malaysian trainers were very active as well – however these markets tend not to buy Fillies and focus on Colts in the main and so our focus was to be on the Fillly options – in the end we identified four Fillies from day one of the sale – two of these failed their Vet inspections and one we had identified in particular, that we thought would meet our budget, was the Swiss Ace Filly out of an El Rocamare and with a great Vet report and a budget of $80,000 to buy her, we managed to secure her for $70,000 and so “mission accomplished”
Interesting to note that Mark Walker and I have been going through the catalogue for at least the past four weeks and time and time again as we would review and consider the options, Mark would keep coming back to this Filly, saying to me how well she had breezed up and how he thought she would be the one to make our budget. I joined Mark at the sales grounds yesterday morning where we inspected all of the horses on his and David’s list and as the Swiss Ace Filly paraded for us Mark kept commenting to me“this is a lovely Filly”
Mark has sent through the following comments. “John, as you know, you and I have been talking about this Filly for a few weeks now, as I had identified her earlier in the piece as having the right physical characteristics to make a lovely racehorse – her breeze up at Te Rapa four weeks ago was first class and when we inspected her at the sales grounds this morning, I certainly wasn’t disappointed with what I saw. She is a lovely physical type with a great walk, is of good medium size and demonstrated a very pleasant temperament. I think she will be the sort of Filly that could come into work at the stables very soon, trial late summer and have a race day start or two as a two year-old, but she’s got all the scope in the world to develop into a lovely three-year-old type”
David Ellis also comments as follows “John, congratulations on securing this lovely Swiss Ace Filly today within your budget – Mark and I were very impressed with her breeze up and how she paraded for us today at inspections. I think she will definitely run as an autumn two year old and has plenty of scope to be a successful three year old as well.”
On the pedigree front, Swiss Ace, in my view, is an underrated Sire, but with 366 winners (including 19 Stakes winners) from just over 500 runners, he can certainly leave a quality race horse. The dam is by El Roca and is a a half sister to the Stakes winner, Ichiban. Swiss Ace is the Sire of Niance, who won the Group 3 How Now Stakes at Caulfield last Saturday and who has now fashioned a record of 6 wins from 10 starts
Click HERE to see the link to her breeze up clip – she breezed up in 10.74 secs and as you will see, she has a beautiful galloping action
Here below is her pedigree
All up she is to be syndicated for NZ$120,000 – this includes her sale price, NZ GST, Promoters Fees, Vet fees, insurance through to 31 Jan 2026 and a healthy working capital figure of just under $12k
As always, we do shares down to 1% – see schedule below
| Share 10% |
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$12000 |
| Share 5% |
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$6000 |
| Share 2.5% |
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$3000 |
| Share 1% |
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$1200 |
Ongoing costs commence 1 Jan 2025 @ $50 per month per each 1% share – full syndication paperwork can now be viewed on the Fortuna website HERE and orders can be placed directly from this link also – feel free to contact John directly by replying to this update or call/text 021 921 460============================================================
Guest Selector – Des Coppins
Greetings John and Fortuna followers
From last week Testify Me took a giant leap into Wellington Cup calculations with its dashing run for third in the Wanganui Cup and The Underbelly lost no admirers after being just pipped by Testify Me. Interesting to look at their respective odds 6 weeks out from Trentham; Testify Me is at $14 while The Underbelly is currently showing $8.
If the race was tomorrow they’d both be around the $5 to $7 mark. My friendly advice when it comes to backing either or both – simply wait! It’s too far out and so much can happen in 6 weekss
Sadly the other horse I mentioned in this column last week Non de Plume suffered cardiac arrhythmia.
Let’s have a look at two follow at Trentham and one for Ellerslie this weekend.
Gee Cee – race 5, Trentham
With three encouraging runs under his belt I think he’s ready to recapture his best form. At his last start he was held up for almost the entire length of the straight behind Sumi and company at Tauranga. The wide draw at Ellerslie, prior to Tauranga, was a hindrance and the first up run at Taupo to finish just 4.5 lengths from subsequent TAB Mile winner at Riccarton, Kopua, was a true indicator that he’s returned for another season in good order.
He’s 4th up and he won 4th up last year at Pukekohe over 1600m after running second in the famous Douro Cup at Trentham. He’s had two starts at Trentham for 2 placings including a strong third behind 2024 Telegraph winner and stablemate Mercurial over 1400m in January last year.
Beast of Burden, race two
It was a determined win at Te Aroha last start and I’d be surprised if he didn’t carry on with it over 1000m at Trentham. He’s always shown promise and the stable thought a lot of him as three year old and lined him up in the group 2 at Te Rapa, the Sarten Memorial. He didn’t show up after a tardy start behind Crocetti and company but his form since has been sound and he deserved the win last time.
Here’s an interesting form comparison against rival and favourite Moet Down. The last time they met at Te Rapa in January Moet Down led all the way over 1300m and Beast of Burden rushed into third. Moet Down carried 2kgs less that day and on Saturday Beast of Burden, with a one kg allowance, will meet her 6kgs better off!
Ellerslie race one, Arby
He had rotten luck last time. He dislodged rider Matt Cartwright when he attempted to jump the crossing. We were on board then and we will be on board again. Good to see the stable retaining the rider.
Good punting!
It should be a great weekend of racing and especially looking forward to Trentham.
Best of luck to the Fortuna team with their two runners, Marokopa Falls and Star Shadow.
Des Coppins
021 448 052
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