Volpe Veloce readymade favourite for Eulogy Stakes

Graham Richardson put his bank account, as well as his judgment, on the line when he bought the now unbeaten three-year-old Volpe Veloce.

The Matamata trainer loved the filly as a type but did not have any owners signed up when he paid $240,000 for the yearling by firstseason sire Foxwedge at Karaka in January 2015.

Volpe Veloce has yet to be seriously threatened in four race-day starts and is a readymade favourite for the $70,000 group three Eulogy Stakes (1600m) at Awapuni on Saturday.

”I hope everything goes well for the horse, if only for the owners,” Richardson said. “They have put a lot of faith in me.

“I didn’t have an owner at the time [I bought her] and it took 12 to 13 months to sell her. It was a long time.

“But that’s what the game is all about. Sometimes you have to have a go.”

Richardson recalled coming home after seeing Volpe Veloce before the sale and telling his wife, Rochelle, that they had to own the filly.

“But you run a fine line,” Richardson said. “It’s hard to survive and if you buy one yearling too many, it can send you broke. But you can also go broke if you buy too few and don’t have the horses in the stable.”

Not everything went Volpe Veloce’s way in the spring, with plans to contest the One Thousand Guineas abandoned after wet tracks interrupted her leadup programme but when she has got to the races, she

She has thrived since. We couldn’t be happier with her. Graham Richardson

has done the job in style. She has won each of her starts by at least two lengths and comfortably won a threeyear-old 1400m, with 57.5kg, at Tauranga at her last start, on November 12. She beat Barcelo and Tiffany’s Time at Tauranga and fourth placegetter No Fuss Guss franked the form by finishing third in the Wellington Stakes at his next start.

“She has thrived since. We couldn’t be happier with her,” Richardson said.

Johnathan Parkes has ridden Volpe Veloce in her last three starts and is able to stick with the filly this weekend.

Plans for Volpe Veloce past the Eulogy are uncertain, but provided she races well, there is a chance she will not run again till the $225,000 group one Levin Classic (1600m) at Trentham on January 14.

Other options include the group two Eight Carat Stakes (1600m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day and the group two Great Northern Guineas (1600m) at Ellerslie on January 1.

Nominations for the Eulogy were held open yesterday, after the race initially attracted just eight entries. However, seven of the eight have been winners and the other contenders will include Rayas, who hit the line strongly when second in the Wellington Stakes. — NZ Racing Desk