Written by Paul Vettise
Connections of the lightly raced Akasawa (Real Impact {Jpn}) are banking on a step-up to a middle distance at Rosehill on Saturday to help the 3-year-old cope with a steep rise in class.
The Paul Messara-trained gelding has displayed an abundance of promise in his short career and will be tested against a number of Classic contenders when he runs in the G2 Elite Sand and Soil Tulloch S.
Akasawa has done everything asked of him so far and there is confidence he can continue to shine in his first appearance beyond a mile as he progresses toward the G1 Australian Derby.
“He’s a good horse and we’ve got Craig Williams booked to ride. I really like the horse and I think he’s got a lot of ability,” Messara said.
“I’ve always wanted to get him up to 2000 metres, which I think will be an ideal trip for him and he can handle the cut in the ground. All going well, he’ll back-up into the Derby.”
Strong Classic guide
It is a program that is favoured by history with the last four winners of the Tulloch – Quick Thinker (So You Think {NZ}), Angel Of Truth (Animal Kingdom {USA}), Levendi (Pierro) and Jon Snow (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) – have gone on to Derby success.
Akasawa is raced by breeder Arrowfield Stud after he failed to meet his $30,000 reserve at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
“He was passed in, but he is a lovely horse and has just needed a bit of time to develop,” Messara said.
His dam Forest City Girl (USA) (Deputy Minister {USA}) has left six winners and is a half-sister to Better Lucky (USA) (Ghostzapper {USA}), a two-time Group 1 winner.
Akasawa as a yearling
Early success
Akasawa showed his appreciation of patient handling with a debut win at Muswellbrook, and following a break, resumed with an unlucky second before he returned to winning ways at Mudgee.
At his most recent appearance on his home track at Scone, he covered extra ground from the outside gate and still proved too good under 59.5kg against the older horses.
“He had it all against him the other day because he had a sore heel leading into it. I switched him into hard bars, which are never great to race in when it’s wet, but it was out of necessity in order to keep him sound,” Messara said.
“He raced three-wide with 59.5kg and still won, so it was a very good effort."
