Te Akau Confirms Karaka Million Riders

Te Akau Racing is delighted to confirm riding engagements for its five Karaka Million 2YO starters.

The stable in fact qualified six starters for the event - and we are very proud that five juveniles will step out for Te Akau trainer Jamie Richards, as the stable seeks its third consecutive Karaka Million 2YO title.

The stable won the 2017 edition with Melody Belle and repeated that success in 2018 with Avantage - both selected and purchased by David Ellis.  Both went on to be voted Champion 2YO of their season.

A Restricted Listed 1200m race for two-year-olds, the order of entry for the 2019 Karaka Million 2YO is determined by prize money won with the field limited to 14 starters.
The riders today confirmed (horses in the Conditional Order of Entry) for the Te Akau team are:

1   Aotea Lad ($76,150) - James McDonald

7   Probabeel ($30,500) - Opie Bosson

8   Yourdeel ($23,100) - Matthew Cameron

9   Louis Luck ($18,750) - Shafiq Rusof

10   Challa ($18,225) - Jonathan Riddell

Aotea Lad, Probabeel and Challa were all selected and purchased by David Ellis, who commented:

"What an achievement by Jamie (Richards) and the team to qualify six runners for this exciting event - three purchased by me and three we are proud to train for their connections.  This is the type of result we seek when we return year after year to the Karaka Sale and buy the horses we want in our stable for our owners to be involved in.   It underlines the quality of horses we buy and have in the stable, as well as the talent of the team that trains and rides them.

"The five jockeys engaged are all top class, proven Group 1 riders and our stable rider Opie Bosson has elected to ride the current race favourite Probabeel.  Obviously having ridden both Melody Belle and Avantage to victory in the past two years, Opie is very keen to be in the winners' circle again for the third time.  It's also a thrill to see James McDonald back in the Te Akau tangerine.  He had plenty of success in our colours when he was our stable rider during his New Zealand career.  Senior riders Matthew Cameron, Shafiq Rusof and Jonathan Riddell have all also won a raft of Group 1 races in for Te Akau."

We cannot wait until Saturday 26 January, it will be another magnificent evening for certain - good luck to all our owners.