Akuta back to his brilliant best

Brilliant harness racing 3YO Akuta looked back to his very best tonight when winning the Gr2 $50,000 Alabar 3YO Classic at Alexandra Park.

For Akuta it was a chance to get back into winning form but it didn’t exactly go as planned early on for the smart son of Bettor’s Delight.

In a race that had several attackers trying for the lead at various stages, Akuta was forced to back off early after Magic Four and driver Peter Ferguson were determined to hold the front fighting off all lead challenges.

Akuta came off the fence to sit parked and had the best position in the race when stablemate Franco Indie came around with a lap to go to sit parked. In the straight Akuta popped out of the one by one and shot to the front, winning easily from another stablemate and outsider Bollinger who ran on well for second and Franco Indie who battled on for third. The early burn was too much for Magic Four who dropped out and finished last.

“I got a nice trip behind the stablemate for the last thousand metres, but he worked hard early, I was really pleased with the way he got over the top of them at the end,” driver Mark Purdon said after the race.

“The Derby is only a couple of weeks away and I am happy he is back to where he should be,” he said.

Akuta ran the 2200m mobile event in a slick 1-56.2 mile rate with a final 800m in 56.9 seconds.

Earlier in the night Canterbury visitor Cover Girl grabbed a deserved win in the (Gr2) Peter Breckon Memorial Caduceus Club Stakes.

Cover Girl (Bettor’s Delight) trailed all the way behind another Canterbury raider Dance Till Dawn and got up to beat that runner by a head in the Group 2 feature!

View the Auckland results click here!

Harnesslink Media