Scone trainer Paul Messara restricts his stables these days to those horses that are passed in from the Arrowfield draft at sales around the country, and, like his Country Championships contender Akasawa, they are usually not bluebloods.
Arrowfield sells at every major sale in Australia, which has become Messara’s main focus, and this son of Real Impact was in the Magic Millions June sale book 2, where he didn’t reach his reserve of $30,000.
Scone trainer Paul Messara believes Akasawa can finally give him a Country Championships final victory.Credit:Tertius Pickard
Messara took him home and gave him time to develop. The five-year-old has only had nine starts for six wins to just fall inside the qualification rules for the Country Championships.
If he had won at Canterbury in December when he failed to run down Dimaggio, he wouldn’t have been allowed to crush his rivals in the Hunter qualifier.
“Last preparation he was a little bit unlucky in town and finished second,” Messara said. “It meant that he was still qualified for this race, so we made it a focus.”
“He had 10 days in the paddock at Christmas, then it was five weeks into the qualifier and then straight into the final. It worked out well.
“He is the sort of horse I have these days, and to see him come through the grades after being passed in is always very satisfying.
“I gave up training full-time a few years ago, but these are the type of horses that keep it interesting, trying to get the best out of them.
“I have run second and been placed another time in this race and, being a country trainer, it’s certainly one you want to win.
“I think this fellow represents our best hope of winning it.”
Aaron Bullock has broken the 100-win barrier already this season.Credit:Getty
There would have been plenty of calls from Sydney jockeys for the ride in the Country Championships, but, with Akasawa getting 59 kilos under the set weights conditions, it allowed Messara to keep Aaron Bullock on him. Bullock is the only jockey in NSW to break the 100-winners barrier so far this season.
Heavyweight jockey Bullock strikes at almost 25 per cent of winners to runners, which is also a state-leading number.
“He is a very good jockey who rides as well as most of the Sydney jockeys. He knows the horse really well and I was keen to stick with him,” Messara said.
Bullock made the trip to Scone last week to ride Akasawa in his final piece of work because it had been six weeks since he beat Running Bear in Tamworth heat.
“I can’t fault the horse. Aaron came up and rode him in jump-out last Wednesday and the horse performed nicely and I think he is spot-on for the day,” Messara said.
“We were disappointed with the draw [of barrier 14], which makes it a little tricky.
“Unfortunately, we might get dictated too from out there, rather than the best horse winning the race.
“If we drew an inside gate I thought we would have been very hard to beat. We just need one of Aaron’s best rides, which I’m sure we will get.”
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