NZ Briefs for 22nd December 2015

Top 4YO heading to Te Rapa; All’s well with Te Hana; Eclipse next for in-form colt

Top 4YO heading to Te Rapa

Volkstok'n’barrell is likely to make his return to Group One racing at Te Rapa next year.

He is back in work with trainers Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs, who have the NRM Sprint on February 13 in mind for the four-year-old’s first-up assignment.

“He’s looking good and he’s bounced back really well,” Gibbs said.

Last season’s Gr.1 Rosehill Guineas winner and dual Derby placegetter hasn’t raced since a disappointing spring campaign in Melbourne.

All’s well with Te Hana

Multiple winner Te Hana hasn’t taken any harm from a flat last-start performance.

The mare was well-supported at Awapuni, but she lost touch with the field a long way out and failed to beat a runner home.

“She’s won six races and most of the time she’s got back like that – you have to keep at her and not let her get away with anything,” trainer Janelle Millar said.

“She’s 100 percent and she’ll keep, she’s still really only a baby.”

Eclipse next for in-form colt

The Soultaker will add to his Ellerslie experience on New Year’s Day as he builds toward the Listed Karaka Million.

Runner-up on the course on debut, the Iffraaj colt will make an appearance in the Gr.3 Barneswood Farm Eclipse Stakes.

The Soultaker guaranteed himself a place in the Karaka Million, the country’s richest race, with his last-start defeat of Manolo Blahniq in the Listed Murdoch Newell Stakes at Avondale last month.