Reigning New Zealand premiership-winning trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson will watch Ruakaka closely on Saturday despite sending only one runner to the Northland course.
The Te Akau Racing team will be represented by Age Of Discovery in the Accurate Books (1100m) at Rating 75 level where he will make his long-awaited return after injury curtailed his three-year-old season.
A son of Savabeel who was a $625,000 yearling purchase by David Ellis at Karaka in 2023, Age Of Discovery won his first two starts at Riccarton last September. He was at one stage the $8 second favourite behind Savaglee in fixed-odds betting for the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m).
However, the classy son of Savabeel was ruled out of that November classic because of a setback and ended up making only one other appearance in his three-year-old season.
“He was a pretty exciting prospect as a three-year-old last spring. He went down south early in the season for the better ground down there, and he settled in well and seemed to be right on track for the Guineas before going amiss," Bergerson said.
“We brought him back and tried to get him going again in the autumn, but it just never really worked out.
“He’s coming back up again now after being gelded. He’s impressed us in a couple of trials and it’s time to find out if he can bring his best form to race day again.
“His trackwork was really good on Tuesday morning and we’ve been happy with those trials – especially the one he won at Taupo. Opie (Bosson) is going up there to ride him and knows the horse well. We’re looking forward to seeing what he can do.”
