Opie Cool Aza cucumber
Te Akau Racing’s incredible stranglehold on the Karaka Million 2YO has extended into a fourth year with a superb win by Cool Aza Beel in the million-dollar juvenile feature at Ellerslie yesterday.
The syndication powerhouse has dominated the sales-restricted race in recent seasons, and no one else has had a look-in since Xiong Feng won it in 2016.
Purchaser David Ellis, trainer Jamie Richards (formerly in partnership with Stephen Autridge) and jockey Opie Bosson have teamed to win the race with Melody Belle in 2017, Avantage in 2018, Probabeel in 2019 and now Cool Aza Beel in 2020.
On the eve of the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales, where Te Akau will again be a force on the buyers’ bench, these results are the type of advertising money cannot buy.
“It’s awesome,” Richards said. “It’s a really great way to start the biggest week of the year for us. Whether we can make it five in a row, I’m not sure, but I’d like to think so. We’re definitely going to be out there in force at Karaka over the next few days, looking for more horses like this.”
Cool Aza Beel was the $8.20 third favourite for the Karaka Million behind unbeaten filly Play That Song ($1.60) and Group 2 winner Not An Option ($3.90), but he upstaged both in a power-packed performance.
Urged forward out of the gates by Bosson, Cool Aza Beel was in the early scramble for the lead before easing back into a perfect trailing position in fourth.
He and Play That
Song surged forward in the straight together to make their bids, and for a moment, it looked like Play That
Song would scoot away for a fourth straight win.
But Cool Aza Beel kicked powerfully on her inside and shook her off, opening up a margin of a lengthand-a-half. Play
That Song finished second, a neck in front of the Brendan and Jo Lindsay filly Taroni. “I saw the favourite’s head come up beside me, but I have to give credit to my horse — he gave a really good kick in the straight,” Bosson said. “It’s a great result and a privilege to be part of the Te Akau team.” Bought for $150,000 from the Book 1 session at Karaka last year, Cool Aza Beel won the first two-yearold race of the season at Whanganui back in September. He then struck bad luck when fourth in the Listed FastTrack Insurance 2YO Stakes (1100m) at Pukekohe in November.
After a nervous few days, including a missed run at Ellerslie due to a temperature spike, he finally clinched his spot in the field with a three-length win at Tauranga on January 17.
“We’ve always had a lot of faith in this horse,” Richards said. “We took our time with him. He missed a run here, but we had Tauranga as a back-up plan.
“We’d been really happy with his work coming into [yesterday].
“It has been a great effort by the team at home with this horse, and a great ride by Opie, who’s just a freak,” Richards said.
“I also have to give big thanks to Dave [Ellis] — what an achievement to buy four Karaka Million winners in a row.”