Australian Oaks Possible for Amarelinha

Media Release - Sunday March 21

It’s a case of business as usual for Te Akau Racing trainer Jamie Richards despite the postponement of the Golden Slipper racemeeting at Rosehill due to heavy rain on Saturday, and over the days preceding.

Officials elected to push the card back by a full week, with the knock-on effect that all of the feature race days in Sydney through the autumn will be run a week later than scheduled.

Amarelinha wins the NZ Oaks - Race Images Peter Rubery

Richards has a number of his stable stars set to travel to Sydney for black type assignments in the coming weeks including the star of the show at Trentham on Saturday, Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) winner Amarelinha.

Richards was enjoying the aftermath of another successful Saturday after producing Need I Say More to win the Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m) ahead of a stunning performance by Amarelinha in the Oaks, where she won eased down by a length after botching the start and nearly dislodging rider Opie Bosson.

“You never take this game for granted and Group One races are never easy to win, so I’m very thankful that we could get another one with Amarelinha,” Richards said of his 44th Group One win of his training career.

“She gave us a bit of a fright at the start and Opie nearly lost his inside iron, but thankfully it worked out well and I was confident at the 800m that, if she could stay the distance, she was going to be hard to beat.

“The whole team is going well and our operation is really firing. Dave (Ellis) is buying the right horses, our systems that have been developed over the last thirty years are working well, we have very capable and dedicated staff and we have a great bunch of owners involved so it is all very satisfying.

“It’s been an unbelievable season and hopefully we can carry on even further.”

While Richards was pleased with the performances of Amarelinha, Need I Say More and Cornflower Blue, who ran third in the Wellington Guineas, he was left scratching his head over the effort by Brando in the same race after the Savabeel colt finished a lacklustre seventh in his first run back following a similar performance in the Gr.3 CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) at Flemington in February.

“We’re going to give him a good going over as he disappointed with that effort,” he said.

“I was pleased with him as his work had been good, but it might be that Australian race took more out of him than we thought it did.

“He’s too good a horse to be performing like that, so I would expect he will bounce back once we have a bit more of an understanding of what went wrong.”

Advertisement

While there is plenty more to achieve in New Zealand over the last four months of the season, Richards will be focused on the members of his team heading to Sydney, although he will be keeping a close eye on track conditions there over the next few weeks.

“It was certainly a shame for them that they got the rain they did and had to postpone Saturday’s meeting,” Richards said.

“It didn’t really have too much effect on us as we are going to stick to the plans we had made for our horses before the shift in the carnival dates was announced.

“In my experience if you start to alter things too much, that is when problems can occur.

“We will assess when our horses fly over, but in some cases the delay could be a good thing.

“If Amarelinha goes over to tackle the Australian Oaks (Gr.1, 2400m) that extra week will be of benefit as it allows her a few more days to recover from her exertions at Trentham.

“She is one that definitely needs a good track so that factor will have a bearing on whether we go or not.

“We will also stick to our original plan with Melody Belle who will race in the Tancred Stakes (Gr.1, 2400m) next.

“That will give her three weeks between runs which is just perfect for her and she is one that will appreciate some give in the ground if the wet weather sticks around.”

Richards also confirmed that both Avantage and Cornflower Blue would contest the Gr.1 Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) at Te Aroha on April 10, with Avantage likely to have an exhibition gallop between races at Matamata before then. – NZ Racing Desk

Advertisment
More Reading...
Carrazzo Melbourne 'Sport of Kings' Tax Talk
It gives Baumgartners great pleasure to announce that the Paul Carrazzo’s “Sport of Kings” horse tax talk returns to Inglis Melbourne on Wednesday 13 August.
First SW For So You Think Stallion Tamasa As Cicala Takes Out Lightning
One of just three named foals by the So You Think stallion Tamasa, the Will Clarken and Niki O’Shea trained 3yo filly Cicala remained unbeaten, going three from three by winning the $120,000 Listed SAJC Lightning Stakes (1050m) at Morphettville.
Zoustar Filly Wander Dune Impresses On Debut In South Africa
Making her debut as favourite in the Race Coast Maiden Juvenile Plate (1200m) at Kenilworth, South Africa on Saturday, 2yo Australian-bred Zoustar filly Wander Dune impressed with an emphatic victory.
St Mark’s Basilica Filly Impressive at Ascot
Due back at Coolmore Australia this spring, St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) had an impressive new winner overnight at Ascot in the UK where Princess Petrol stormed to victory.
Sires With Winners - Saturday July 26
Here is the full list of 86 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
2026 Inglis Yearling Sale Series Entries Open
Entries for the 2026 Inglis Select Yearling Sales Series – which will be headlined by the presence of the highly anticipated Snitzel x Winx colt at the Easter Sale – are now open.
Sires With Winners - Thursday July 24
Here is the full list of 49 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Zousain Sunday 2YO Double
Zousain is surging to the end of the season with a double of new 2YO winners on Sunday bringing his seasonal tally of juvenile winners to 13.
One to Watch - Belmont
Racing made a welcome return to Belmont Park yesterday and the first winner to salute on the freshly renovated track was a two year-old that started a red hot favourite and could not have been more impressive!
Amelia’s Jewel Family Produces Wootton Bassett 2YO SW
Wootton Bassett (GB) added yet another new two year old stakes-winner to his tally overnight in Ireland with the Group III Silver Flash Stakes (7 ½ f) at Leopardstown going to a filly that is closely related to Aussie Group I winner Amelia’s Jewel.