Champion Kiwi mare Imperatriz looking to emulate the great Sunline in Melbourne sprint
The champion mare – owned by Te Akau Racing and trained by Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson at Matamata – opened as a very short $1.45 favourite on the New Zealand TAB to win the group one Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.
To be ridden by champion Kiwi jockey Opie Bosson from barrier four, Imperatriz will chase her 16th win of a 22-start career which has netted her owners the Te Akau Invincible Empress Racing Partnership over $2.5 million in prizemoney.
Already Imperatriz has won three from three at Moonee Valley. Last start, on September 29, the five-year-old mare won the Moir Stakes and beat her own track record (set in the McEwen Stakes) with a time of 56.47sec for the 1000m.
Among the past winners of the Manikato Stakes was champion Kiwi mare Sunline, who won it in 2000 on the way to victory in that year's WS Cox Plate. Sunline won 32 of her 48 starts and $14 million in prizemoney.
Imperatriz will have just six rivals in Saturday’s race, for which the winning stake is A$1.2 million.
Co-trainer Walker and Te Akau Racing resisted the temptation of heading to Sydney for A$20 million The Everest (1200m) to concentrate on Saturday’s race, then group one Champions Sprint (1200m) at Flemington on November 11.
Te Akau's David Ellis explained that decision to pass up considerably more stakemoney in The Everest and take on the best sprinters in Australia, to remain in Melbourne.
“It’s been a pretty easy decision because we think she’s happy with where she is. She doesn’t need a long float trip to Sydney after a long trip from New Zealand. She’s very happy at Cranbourne and I think she prefers going left-handed [anticlockwise],” Ellis said.
“We’ll look at [The Everest] year by year. We’re not going to make a decision now what we’re going to do in 12 months.”
Walker took Imperatriz to Moonee Valley on Tuesday morning for a track gallop and liked what he saw.
“She knows The Valley quite well and the track is in outstanding order as well. She’s ready to go. It was maintenance work really. Touch wood, everything has gone really well. I’m looking forward to Saturday.”
While Imperatriz may be an odds-on favourite, Walker remained cautiously optimistic. “They don’t give away group ones, especially in Australia,” he said.
