New Zealand
Promising juvenile seizes the day at Matamata
An elite-level test looms for promising juvenile Seize The Day following his comfortable maiden victory in the AKW Farrier LTD 2YO (1200m) at Matamata on Wednesday.
Trained locally by Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, the Te Akau two-year-old was a beaten favourite on debut at Ellerslie last month, placing behind Summer Schemer and subsequent Group One performer State Of Valour.
His conditioners were confident of an improved result on Wednesday and the son of
I Am Invincible didn't disappoint, sitting parked throughout and bounding away in the concluding stages under jockey Opie Bosson to win by 2-3/4 lengths.
"He felt good," Bosson said. "He took a while to come back to me and wanted to over-race a fraction, but he travelled beautifully from the 600m.
"He's a lovely big horse, with a massive stride on him, and gives you a nice feeling when he lets go.
"He had run through the line well at Ellerslie after getting a bit lost when balancing up, but once he did, he found the line and it was an encouraging run.
"He's gone forward in his work since then and everything pointed to a good run today. I think he's going to be pretty competitive over 1400m."
Co-trainer Sam Bergerson was pleased with the win and he is now looking forward to heading south with the colt later this month to tackle the Gr.1 Courtesy Ford Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) at Trentham.
"He's a lovely colt and put it all together and showed it out there today," Bergerson said.
"He was probably a little bit keen, which is hopefully not a chink in his armour as we look to step up to 1400m in the Group One at Trentham, but he was really dominant up the straight and it was exciting to see.
"He's always shown us plenty at home, and obviously he went down as a short-priced favourite at Ellerslie, but we were still very happy with the performance and how he went through the line.
"It was good to see what he did on the home track and we're excited to get him down to Trentham in a couple of weeks."
A full-brother to Group Three winner California Zimbol and a half-brother to stakes winners From Within and Cruden Bay, Seize The Day was purchased out of Yarraman Park Stud's 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft by Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis, in partnership with Kia Ora Stud, for A$600,000.
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