Group One winner Probabeel will be one of three strong chances for Te Akau at Randwick on Saturday. Photo: Quentin Lang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLeading New Zealand trainer Jamie Richards has experienced plenty of success in Australia over the last 12 months, he just hasn\u2019t been able to be there to witness it.<\/p>\n
That will all change this weekend, with the trans-Tasman travel bubble opening up next Monday, allowing him to fly to Sydney to watch three of his team compete on the second day of The Championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am going over Wednesday and coming back on Monday when the bubble opens up again,\u201d Richards said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get to dust off the passport and get over there with three really nice chances. I am really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having three strong chances racing in Sydney this weekend has also boosted the energy of the entire Te Akau team at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting for the whole team, including Dave (Ellis, Te Akau Principal) and Karyn (Fenton-Ellis), the owners and staff, everybody has got a spring in their step this week as we head towards The Championships,\u201d Richards said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could have three horses that are going to be high in the betting and that always gives you a bit of confidence that your horses are going well, they are in the right race, and in the right form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seasoned Australian campaigner Probabeel has headed north to Sydney from Melbourne, where she tasted success in the Group 3 Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes (1200m) and Group 1 Futurity Stakes (1400m) before inclement weather impeded her chances in the A$5million All-Star Mile (1600m) last month.<\/p>\n
She has since pleased Richards with her 1200m trial win at Randwick last week and he believes she is primed for the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbabeel has come up from Melbourne where she didn\u2019t have a lot of luck in the All-Star Mile with all the rain,\u201d Richards said. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe has trialled well and we think this is a really nice race for her to target, a fillies and mares mile.\u201d<\/p>\n
While campaigning in Australia is nothing new to Probabeel, her stablemates Amarelinha and Entriviere will make their Australian debuts this weekend.<\/p>\n
The pair travelled over to Sydney on Monday and Richards said they have both settled in well to their new environment.<\/p>\n
Star filly Amarelinha has been dominant amongst her sex in New Zealand, and now she will attempt to expand that reign to Australia on Saturday when she contests the Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m).<\/p>\n
The daughter of Savabeel has won five of her seven starts to date, including the Group 2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Group 2 David and Karyn Ellis Fillies Classic (2000m), Group 3 Sunline Vase (2100m), and Group 1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m).<\/p>\n
She won her 1200m trial at Ellerslie last week in the hands of Opie Bosson, who will travel to Sydney to ride her in the Sydney Classic.<\/p>\n
Richards has been pleased with the way she has come through her trial and said it should top her off nicely ahead of Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe travelled over there well last night,\u201d he said. \u201cShe is going to do a bit of three-quarter work on Thursday morning and Opie is going to go over and ride her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a month between runs, with a trial (in-between). She seems to be in good form, I am happy with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richards is just as upbeat about the chances of Entriviere in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes (1200m).<\/p>\n
He holds the four-year-old mare in high regard and believes she is up to the challenge on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The daughter of Tavistock takes a strong form line into the race, having won five of her six starts, including the Group 3 Concorde Handicap (1200m) and the Group 3 King\u2019s Plate (1200m) last start.<\/p>\n
She subsequently beat eight-time Group One winner Avantage and exciting four-year-old Levante in a 1100m trial at Matamata late last month, and Richards believes she is on song for Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe travelled over well last night with Amarelinha. She trialled well and appears to race well with her races spaced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pretty excited about her as a racing prospect. If she is as good as what we think she is then she is certainly up to being competitive on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Punter\u2019s confidence will also be heightened with her pairing with leading Sydney jockey James McDonald in her Australian debut.<\/p>\n
While looking forward to Sydney on Saturday, Richards will be keeping a close eye on Te Rapa where Avantage will be shooting for her ninth Group One victory in the postponed Fiber Fresh NZ Thoroughbred Breeders\u2019 Stakes (1600m).<\/p>\n
Originally scheduled for Te Aroha last Saturday, that meeting was abandoned after three races. <\/p>\n
The week postponement doesn\u2019t worry Richards, who is expecting another consistent run from the mare.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did some nice work on the course proper here this morning,\u201d he said. \u201cI am pleased with her. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have just got to keep her sound, happy, and healthy for the rest of the week, and she will be there on Saturday in good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Richards is looking forward to being reunited with Melody Belle on Wednesday following her sixth-placed run in the Group 1 Tancred Stakes (2400m) earlier this month.<\/p>\n
She was required to undergo a veterinary inspection prior to the run after stewards reported she was tying-up after her track gallop on the Wednesday prior.<\/p>\n
She was subsequently passed fit to run and Richards said she has come through the race well and will continue her farewell tour in Queensland after trialling at Rosehill later this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is going to trial at Rosehill on the 27th and then she will go up to Doomben and run in the Hollindale (Group 2, 1800m) on the 8th (of May) and then the Doomben Cup (Group 1, 2000m) on the 27th before she is sold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leading New Zealand trainer Jamie Richards has experienced plenty of success in Australia over the last 12 months, he just hasn\u2019t been able to be there to witness it. That will all change this weekend, with the trans-Tasman travel bubble opening up next Monday, allowing him to fly to Sydney to watch three of his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":173303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[12747,707,890,1270,12627,15296,593,711,6096,6235,3815],"coauthors":[2718],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173325,"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173324\/revisions\/173325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173324"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=173324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Probabeel\"](\"https:\/\/horsebetting.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Probabeel-Gr.1-Futurity-QL4706-scaled.jpg\")