Decision Pending on Grp 1 Honours

The Informant reports:

As this edition went to press, a decision was pending whether training partners Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards would get the chance to add further Group One honours to their sensational first season tally.

Last Saturday at Ellerslie and less than year since they joined forces at Te Akau Stables, Autridge and Richards produced their fourth Group One winner for the season, Heroic Valour in the Sistema Diamond Stakes.

Adding to the New Zealand 1000 and 2000 Guineas double by Risque and Xtravagant and the NRM Sprint win by the latter, Heroic Valour took his own unbeaten tally to three with a game win over Wyndspelle and O'Rachael in the first leg of the big autumn juvenile double.

“He's still a boy in many respects but looking further ahead he's going to be a lovely horse for the Guineas races in the spring.”

Now the decision must be made whether to push on to the second leg, the Courtesy Ford Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes on April 2. Also in the mix is stablemate Sassy 'N' Smart, who struck bad luck for second time running when sixth to Heroic Valour last weekend.

“We're sitting down with David this afternoon, that's when we'll come up with a plan,” Autridge told The Informant on Thursday morning. “They've come through Ellerslie on good shape and both could go to Awapuni if we decided to.

“The colt especially is going to love a bit more ground and he'd manage the 1400 metres easily. He's still a boy in many respects but looking further ahead he's going to be a lovely horse for the Guineas races in the spring.

“The filly had no luck in the Matamata Breeders' Stakes after drawing the outside and she had no favours in the run the other day, so she did well to finish where she did.”

Heroic Valour, a $400,000 Karaka 2015 Premier purchase by Ellis, became Fastnet Rock's first Group One two-year-old winner when he and Jonathan Riddell bull-dogged their way up the Ellerslie straight.

Not only did it confirm the powerfully-built bay's stallion potential, but there was also incremental rub-off for the full brother that Ellis paid $510,000 at Karaka in January.

Autridge, who spent time at the Te Akau helm early in his training career, and Richards, who was licensed only in May when he and his senior partner joined forces, are feasting on the opportunities offered by the quality Te Akau contingent.

With less than a third of the 2015-16 season remaining, their 67 wins is a 10-win trainers' premiership buffer on defending champions Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman.

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