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Te Akau seeks change in fortune with Guineas-bound colts
Richard Edmunds • October 31st, 2025 2:17 pm
He Who Dares will contest the rescheduled Gr.2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) at Tauranga on Saturday | Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
Almost nothing has gone to plan this spring for Te Akau colts He Who Dares and Hostility, but trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson are hoping for a change of fortune in the lead-up to the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton on November 15.
By the time He Who Dares steps out on to the Tauranga track on Saturday for the rescheduled Gr.2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m), the son of Snitzel will have gone 56 days since his only other start this spring – a strong-finishing second in the Listed Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) at Ellerslie on September 6.
“It’s been a frustrating spring to say the least, and it’s coming up to two months since he last had a race,” Bergerson said. “It’s just been so wet, and then we had the abandonment on Monday. We’re looking forward to finally getting him back to the races on Saturday.
“The horse is in good order and his work has been great. We were heading into Te Rapa confident that he was going to run well. Hopefully he gets reasonable footing at Tauranga on Saturday and puts his best foot forward, and then we can carry on down to Christchurch for the Guineas. It’s not the build-up we planned to have with him, but we’re still very keen to get him down there for the race.”
Hostility has caused his trainers even more headaches. The record-breaking $1.65 million purchase from last year’s Ready to Run Sale was a Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) placegetter last season, but is still a maiden after four starts.
The son of I Am Invincible and multiple Group One-winning mare Shillelagh was a $1.30 favourite at Taupo last time out but was carried out to the extreme outside of the track around the home turn and finished a desperately unlucky seventh.
Walker and Bergerson planned to give the pair their final Guineas lead-ups at Te Rapa on Monday, where He Who Dares was entered for the Sarten and Hostility was due to line up in maiden company on the undercard, but the meeting was abandoned after two races.
The back-up option for Hostility was Friday’s Agraforum Zumsil (1600m) at Ashburton, but transport issues also brought that plan undone.
“We’re definitely due a bit of luck,” Bergerson said.
“The plan was to get Hostility down to Ashburton to race on Friday, because we would have liked him to have another go left-handed before the Guineas. But he’s had two planes cancelled and is still stuck up here in the north. With an abandonment and then two cancelled flights, it hasn’t been his week.
“He’s on the ballot for a couple of races at Tauranga on Saturday, so he could race there if he gets a run, and we’ve also nominated him for Ellerslie on Tuesday. Those are the options we’ve got now and hopefully we can still get him to the Guineas.”
He Who Dares and Hostility both remain prominent in the TAB’s fixed-odds market for the 2000 Guineas, with He Who Dares at $4.50 and Hostility at $6. The only horse ahead of them in that market is unbeaten filly Well Written ($3.20), who is currently not nominated for the 2000 Guineas and is more likely to contest the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) a week earlier.
He Who Dares will be one of 10 starters at Tauranga on Saturday for Walker and Bergerson, with Group One performer Wild Night also looking to put a frustrating start to spring behind him when he contests the Bayleys Mount Maunganui (1300m).
The eight-race winner has been scratched from several meetings due to track conditions and missed another race on Monday with Te Rapa’s abandonment. His only appearance so far in this campaign was a sixth behind Churchillian in a 1300m open handicap at Taupo on October 10.
“We’re looking forward to getting Wild Night back to the races,” Bergerson said. “It’s been a pretty tough spring for him too. He loves Te Rapa, so it’s been disappointing to have to scratch him from there a couple of times because of track conditions and then to have the abandonment on Monday.
“But he won this exact race last year, beating La Crique and Navigator, so he’s shown that he can perform at Tauranga too. Hopefully he can run well again on Saturday and it’ll set him up for the summer.”
