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FWC on Sport Nation guideFarravallo returns to winning form
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • July 2nd, 2026 5:26 pm
Farravallo (outside) returned to winning form at Trentham on Thursday | Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images)
Farravallo recaptured his form of old when taking out the Australian Turf Club North Island Challenge Stakes (1200m) at Trentham on Thursday.
Purchased out of the sales by respected judge Chris Rutten, Farravallo showed early promise as a juvenile when beating subsequent stakes winner What You Wish For and added three further wins to his tally over the next two seasons, but he has remained winless for nearly two years.
The now five-year-old son of Belardo hadn’t been sighted on raceday since September last year, and trainer Roydon Bergerson said he thrived over his extended break. He showed that in his resuming trial where he finished runner-up behind So We Go over 1000m at Waverley last month.
“He is a good horse,” Bergerson said. “We have had a lot of problems with him over the last year, he jarred up really bad after he went to Rotorua and had a crack at a decent race (Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes, 1215m), Opie (Bosson, jockey) said he just faltered halfway down the straight.
“We just never got him right last year. We gave him a really good spell, treated his knees and he has come back a really good horse.
“I said to the boys the other day that he is just a powerhouse now and he is going to be a good sprinter through the winter.”
Farravallo vindicated Bergerson’s statement when winning first-up on Thursday, leading from go to whoa, with apprentice jockey Jim Chung following his employer’s instructions and steered his charge to the extreme outside when entering the home straight.
Farravallo kicked on and scored a neat one length victory over Tolstoy, with a further half-length back to Tavis Court in third.
Chung was pleased to get the victory after following Bergerson’s instructions to the letter.
“I just followed instructions, he (Bergerson) told me to get to the outside first, so I tried to do it and we got the job done,” he said.
Bergerson is looking forward to racing the wet track specialist through winter and said a return to stakes level could also be on the cards.
“I just hope the Foxbridge Plate (Gr.2, 1200m) is run on a bog,” he quipped.
Later on the card, Bergerson and Chung teamed up once again to score a stable double with Bradman in the Aztech Engineering 1500.
The pair adopted similar tactics and Bradman set a solid tempo upfront, opening up a decent margin on his rivals, which he maintained down the home straight to score by 6-1/4 lengths over Urenui, with a further 2-3/4 lengths back to Boomtown Boy in third.
The win also completed a treble for Chung, who was also victorious aboard the Gerald Innes-trained My Ferrari in the Bill Tito Book Repair Specialist 1400.
