Richardson bags four in a day
Graham Richardson was in excellent touch last Saturday with four wins across two venues headed by his unbeaten stable star Volpe Veloce.
The Gr. 3 Eulogy Stakes marked a late start in feature three-year-old racing for Volpe Veloce after a series of setbacks had conspired against plans to be at Riccarton a month ago for the New Zealand 1000 Guineas.
There’s nothing as sweet as making up for lost time, however, as the talented filly extended her unbeaten sequence to five wins with a convincing performance. That was her second stakes success after taking the Castletown Stakes at Wanganui in June and sets her up for more important races on the horizon.
The first option is the Gr. 2 Eight Carat Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, but a start in that race is by no means certain.
‘‘Her long term goal is the New Zealand Oaks in March, so I’m going to have to pick my races,’’ Graham said. ’’It could be that she misses the Eight Carat and waits for the Levin Classic at Trentham later in January. It’s a Group One and would be great to win, but I’ve got to keep in mind how much travelling she does if we want her to be at peak back at Trentham in March.’’
Richardson Racing’s big Saturday had begun with a win in the first race at Awapuni to Wildflower, while closer to home Los Vargas upset some better backed rivals in the third race at Te Rapa.
Back to Awapuni, promising stayer Pure Lorde made no race of the fourth event to win as she liked and Volpe Veloce capped it off in the Eulogy Stakes.
It was a big day at Awapuni all round for Matamata trainers with a total of six wins on the eightrace programme. Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards notched a double with Chambord and Our Abbadean, and the bag was completed by the Gillies-trained Woodsman.
On the jockey front Craig Grylls continued his hot run of feature race form with another win on the talented Savabeel mare Tony Coldplay, who added the Gr. 2 Cal Isuzu Stakes at Te Rapa to the Eagle Technology Stakes she won last month at Ellerslie.
Craig has won a major race every weekend in the past month, beginning with the Gr. 3 Counties Cup on Chocante, then Coldplay in the Eagle Technology, and 10 days ago it was the turn of Gift Of Power in the Gr. 2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes at Trentham.