Te Akau Racing is celebrating a Group Three win with Torcedor in the Sagarao Stakes at Ascot to fuel ambitions for the Gold Cup at the Royal meeting.
Fifth in the 2017 Gold Cup and second to Order Of St George in the Irish St Leger, the Jessica Harrington-trained stayer found Ascot much more to his liking after a failure in Dubai.
Colm O’Donoghue was positive on the six-year-old, setting a steady pace before kicking on a long way from home.
“He was the class horse in the race and if he was to run to three-quarters of his best he should have beaten them today. He had the class form coming into the race,” O’Donoghue said.
“It was just unfortunate what happened in Dubai, but you are learning all the time. You travel that far and they lose weight and they either recover or don’t, but he has come back in great shape.
“He is from the same family as Yeats and has got that sort of body (big and strong) to him.”
The syndicate which races Tocedor includes prominent New Zealand racing identities, Te Akau principal David Ellis, Sir Peter Vela and Sir Patrick Hogan.
