Six in a rowfor Richards
Matamata trainer Jamie Richards’ day at Ellerslie on Boxing Day was the stuff of dreams – winning six consecutive races on the 10-race premier meeting card.
Richard struck first on race three with Palamos and the Te Akau stable reeled off five more through Entriviere, Vamos Bebe, Brando, Mai Tai and Amarelinha – three of those victories in black type races.
It surpassed his haul on New Zealand Cup day at Riccarton last month when winning five races.
Jockeys Opie Bosson and Danielle Johnson also shared in the spoils with the pair both winning four races each, Bosson all on Richards’ horses while Johnson also won for two non-te Akau stables horses.
The Richards-trained In A Twinkling also finished a close third in the day’s Group I feature, the Zabeel Classic, while Star of Bombay was second in the first race to complete an unforgettable day. Richards is producing a production line of top two and threeyear-old horses.
He has saddled eight individual juvenile winners this season, including the unbeaten Palamos while the stable’s three-year-old stars include Group I winner Kahma Lass and stakes winners Need I Say More, Miss Aotearoa, Cornflower Blue, Brando and Amarelinha.
Amarelinha was as impressive on Saturday as any of those predecessors, displaying a scintillating turn of foot in the home straight to eat up a six-length deficit within a handful of strides as she eased to a length and a quarter advantage over gallant runner-up Fleetwood Maca.
‘‘She’s a very exciting filly with an amazing turn of foot,’’ Bosson said.
Meanwhile, versatile mare Concert Hall bagged the Group I victory she richly deserved when she stormed home out wide to snatch victory in the Zabeel Classic (2000m).
Prepared for owner and breeder Joan Egan by Roger James and Robert Wellwood, Concert Hall had looked a Group I winner in waiting throughout her career having won four individual stakes races before Saturday’s success while she had been runner-up to race rival Rock On Wood in the Group I Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham earlier in the month.
Stepping up to her preferred 2000m distance, her winning chances appeared to have been thwarted when rider Vinnie Colgan found himself last of the 11 runners with just 600m to run.
Colgan sent the Savabeelmare to the extreme outside as she set off after pacemaker In A Twinkling, concert Hall ranged up at the 100m and with fellow sixyear-old mare Supera, they dived at In A Twinkling with Concert Hall getting in the decisive stride to beat Supera by a neck, with In A Twinkling a further head back in third.
Co-trainer Roger James cut a relieved figure after the race as he acknowledged he had been supremely confident leading into the race.
‘‘I said to a couple of my close friends on the way up here today that I thought she was the stable’s best chance,’’ he said.
‘‘It might sound cocky as I know you don’t win them [Group I races] out of turn, but the 2000m and the better track was always going to play right into her hands.
‘‘Quite honestly though, at the 100m mark I didn’t think she could win it. It was a good effort off a slow tempo and to come from that far off them when they quickened up front, she is a good mare.’’
– NZ Racing Desk