It is horse racing’s version of having an All Black training with the Springboks the week before the World Cup final.
But trainer Roydon Bergerson has a very special insider making sure his “All Black”, flying filly Too Sweet, is getting the best care even in a rival stable heading into Saturday’s $1million Karaka Million at Ellerslie.
Bergerson trains not only Too Sweet but In The Air, who will sneak into the mega money dash for cash after the shock withdrawal of Almakeitgood yesterday.
The latter, who was the fourth favourite for the Karaka Million, has suffered a knee injury and will need at least three months, maybe six, away from the racetrack.
“You never like to get into a big race like that, seeing somebody else’s horse get injured,” says Bergerson.
“But we have all been there, that is the racing game.
“I actually thought it was the horse we had to beat so it will make her [Too Sweet’s] chances a little bit better.”
Bergerson is a hard-nosed racing man and admits Saturday’s race could be a bit early for In The Air but when they are dangling $1million in front of you it is hard to say no.
“He is part-owned by Chris Rutten, who has done an amazing job to buy both these horses really cheap, so it is a good reminder of what a great eye he has for a horse to have them both there.”
But Bergerson having two starters in the Million isn’t the strange part of this story.
It it is how he has prepared the last-start $225,000 SkyCity Eclipse Stakes winner Too Sweet for this Saturday.
Too Sweet is part owned by Bergerson’s son Sam, which is a lovely family touch but also unusual because Sam is Mark Walker’s training partner at Te Akau, so therefore the co-trainer of three of the other Karaka Million favourites: To Bravery Born, La Dorada and Belle Du Monde.
Bergerson senior didn’t want to truck Too Sweet all the way back to Awapuni and then north again in the summer heat so after her Ellerslie win the filly returned home with Sam. To Te Akau’s Matamata stables.
So the second favourite for the Karaka Million and Roydon Bergerson’s best ever chance at a $1million winner is being trained alongside her biggest rivals.
“It is kinda funny, isn’t it,” laughs Bergerson.
“I didn’t want to be trucking her up and down the island and of course I can trust Sam to look after her but you couldn’t write a script where they are all together.” So when your son is a premiership-winning trainer and part-owner, does Dad give him instructions on how to train “their” horse to beat his own horses?
“We talk once or twice a day anyway and I came up last week to work her and am heading up again tomorrow [Tuesday],” says Roydon.
“Obviously she is getting the best of care there and I am sure if we pulled it off all the people at Te Akau would be stoked for us and if we get beaten by a Te Akau horse I will be happy my son co-trained the winner.
“So I guess I have an each way bet and so does Sam. But I know who I’d like to win,” he smiles.
Too Sweet looked every inch a Karaka Million winner when she won the Eclipse on New Years Day.
She is quick and mentally mature, not phased by her Ellerslie debut and putting all her energy into running forward fast rather than stargazing.
That and champion jockey Michael McNab will take her a long way on Saturday.
“I am sure she can win and I’d love her to get a good draw, something between barrier 2 and barrier 5.”
Too Sweet is the $4.60 second favourite for the Karaka Million, headed only by Te Akau colt To Bravery Born, with La Dorada, Sierra Leone and Belle Du Monde on the next lines of betting.
The final market will be greatly shaped by the barrier draw which will be live on Trackside from the Karaka Sales complex at 10.30am on Wednesday.
Regardless of the draws if you based it purely on how the market rates the field, there is about a 65 per cent chance a Bergerson will train the winner of our richest juvenile race on Saturday.