"I was offered the opportunity and decided to take it. I was looking for a new challenge," Gerard said.
She will be accompanied north by her partner Tom Hazlett, the apprentice jockey mentor for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing.
Some of the Gerard horses will be transferred to Te Akau trainer Jason Bridgman, who operates stables at Matamata and Rangiora.
Narousa is the best horse trained by Gerard. She prepared the Khozaam gelding to win the Great Northern and Waikato Hurdles in 2003 and the Kumara Nuggets in 2002.
"I was just lucky to get him," Gerard said.
Narousa had earlier won the Grand National Hurdles and a Dunedin Cup when trained by Brian and Shane Anderton for owner Gordon Johnston.
Gerard has won races this season with Moneyforjam, Kirkdouglas and Super Glow. She has horses engaged at the Waimate meeting tomorrow and Wingatui on Saturday.
The Simtrack gates are under assembly at Wingatui after being bought in South Australia by Gallop South for use at race meetings in Otago and Southland.
The gates are a replacement for starting gates that have been in use for about 25 years and are showing signs of wear and tear.
Les Baker a technician with Simtrack, has made the trip from South Australia to supervise the assembly. He said there were 160 sets of the gates in use throughout the world. The gates are used on 50% of Australian tracks.
He will be in France for the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe, the greatest European race for thoroughbreds, next month in conjunction with the sale of gates there.
Peter Kennedy, the starter for Otago race meetings, was helping with the assembly yesterday, along with Wayne Stevens, the course manager at Wingatui. Kennedy, Stevens and Southland starter Keiran Price, travelled to Australia to assess starting gates.
The gates built of stainless steel and incorporating hydraulic operation are in sections of 14 and six.
The 14 gate section will meet the requirements of all tracks except Wingatui and Riverton which are starting limits of 16.
The gates will be transported on a trailer to race meetings outside of Wingatui.
• Trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre has kept his options open with Melbourne Cup winner Americain, who is a second acceptor for both the $2.5 million Caulfield Cup and the $3 million Cox Plate, AAP reports.
Americain was among the 80 second declarations yesterday for the Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 15 and the 59 horses left in the Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley a week later.
Scarlett Lady has the Caulfield Cup as her main mission.
Rekindled Interest, winner of the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes, is second favourite at $9, ahead Sincero ($12) and Lion Tamer ($14).
Sincero gave Chris O'Brien, the former Wingatui jockey, his first group one win in the George Main Stakes at Rosehill last Saturday.
