Talented four-year-old galloper Te Akau Shark will be looking to secure his first stakes victory on Saturday when he lines-up in the Gr.3 Red Badge Spring Sprint (1400m) at Hastings.

The Rip Van Winkle gelding won impressively on the first day of the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival and his connections are hoping he can reproduce that form on Saturday.

“He’s first-class and a very exciting galloper,” trainer Jamie Richards said. “To see him front-up like that on raceday was very rewarding.

“The staff have put a lot of hard work into him and hopefully we can see him reproduce something like that on Saturday.”

Richards has a lot of time for the galloper and believes he can be competitive at elite level.

“He’s bred to get two miles, so he is an interesting horse. He is switching off a little bit now with the blinkers off.

“He probably looks like a sprinter-miler at this stage, but he might get 2000m at some stage. He’s a very useful galloper that is hopefully on his way to the top.”