From bid spotter to boss, Richards hard work pays off

Written byMichael Cox

EditionArticle11 min readSix years ago Jamie Richards spent a few days spotting bids, mostly from Kiwi mega owner David Ellis. Now he sits beside him at sales and holds the keys to one of the country's biggest racing operations.

David Ellis has a horse to buy - he always does - and is making a beeline for the Karaka sales ring when we ask if he has time for a chat about his head trainer Jamie Richards.

"Sure, but come sit with us. I have a horse to bid on soon, but I can talk to you while we wait," he says. "And I have a photo to show you."

Ellis has his regular seat but on a sale day his presence seems to fill an entire section of the Karaka auditorium; spending more than NZ$6 million in the space of three days will do that. All eyes are on Ellis: vendors, auctioneers, cameramen, media, but especially the bid spotter stationed in front of him.

The former cattle farmer wipes clean the screen of his iPhone on his shoulder sleeve, holds the phone in front of him to focus his sight with squinted eyes, puts his finger on the screen and swipes straight to a photo.

"That's Jamie," pointing to the grainy pic of a fresh-faced 23-year-old Jamie Richards, standing in front of Ellis, bid spotting at the 2013 sale.

"He was right there," Ellis says, pointing at the rail a few metres away. "And he has come a long way in six years."

Two years after that photo was taken Richards was co-trainer of Te Akau Racing, at 28 he was standalone head trainer and a year later he is still right next to Ellis, having answered any doubts about his suitability to the role.

Richards has his head down, at turns tapping on a laptop and flicking through a sales catalogue, all the while plotting the next step of Ellis' plan to, and to steal a phrase, 'make New Zealand racing great again'.

"I am sick of seeing the best horses this country breeds go to Australia and I'm trying to stop it." - David Ellis

"I am sick of seeing the best horses this country breeds go to Australia and I'm trying to stop it," Ellis says between bidding wars, wars he mostly wins, his eyes trained on the lot parading in front of us. "I want to see them retained in New Zealand ownership to race in New Zealand and internationally. That way the fillies can come back and be at stud in New Zealand and the colts can stand at stud."

So how does a 23-year-old bid spotter become the 29-year-old front man of one of New Zealand's most powerful stables?
"Hard work," is the short answer and while there is more to the worldly Richards than just grind, Ellis keeps coming back to work ethic when he talks about his protégé.

"Jamie is proof that in this industry that if you are willing to work hard, you have some ability, you are prepared to listen and take advice from people that have done it all before then you, then you can make a success of it," he says. "But the great thing about Jamie doing so well is that he works so hard. He is out of bed every morning at 2am and manages his day, manages his time, and has a really good team behind him."

"The great thing about Jamie doing so well is that he works so hard." - David Ellis

Every Sunday night Richards sits at his desk and takes stock. He considers the week just gone and sets goals for the week ahead. Race programming, staffing, trackwork lists.
"I like to have a big staff meeting on Monday, so everybody knows what they are doing and where they are going that week," Richards says.

"Six days per week I am up at 2am, so I go to bed early and I am pretty strict on myself. You have to get your life organised. We have 95 in work at our stable Matamata and I like to be hands on with the horses and get direct feedback from riders. So in some respects I probably haven't got the best time management, but I do like to be very thorough and pay attention to not only the big things but the little things in the stable that can be the difference between a half length defeat and a win. Maybe a horse that is restless in one box when they might be more settled in another. Those little things are important."

"I like to be hands on with the horses and get direct feedback from riders." - Trainer, Jamie Richards

The conversation pauses as Ellis locks eyes on another lot, blinking and twitching with a bid style Richards knows all too well. ("Well, I did spend three days staring up and watching him wink at me when I was bid spotter," Richards says with a laugh).

Finally Ellis holds both hands up signalling a $10,000 bid and the Savabeel colt, Lot 258, is his for $430,000.
As Richards signs another New Zealand Bloodstock buyer's form, Ellis says; "The next job we have to do is sell all of these horses. It's a huge effort, we have bought a lot of horses and most of them are unsold. And it's a hell of a lot of work."

"The next job we have to do is sell all of these horses." - Jamie Richards

Given the workload and that pressure, it would be easy to be overwhelmed, but Richards says sales week "is the most incredibly exciting week for all of us."

"This is because these horses are the next stars in the stable," he says. "We often say that the winning post for us isn't on the racetrack, it's in the sales ring, and that's where a lot of races are won and lost. I am fortunate that David has been building up a strong clientele for the last 30 years and he can be really strong on the horses that he likes."

"Everybody that works for Te Akau knows how lucky we are, it doesn't matter how good a trainer I am, or how good our track work riders or how good our jockeys are, because if we don't have the horseflesh to start with it makes it very, very difficult."

Family history and a chance encounter

Given Richards is son of successful south island jockey-cum-trainer Paul Richards and Leanne, a former President of the Otago Racing Club, racing was always going to be hard to resist.

First were studies though and Richards was completing a double degree in management and accounting at Otago University when he met a classmate Julia-Rose Ellis, daughter of the owner.

"He gave my daughter Julia-Rose a lift to an appointment one day and he had to stop off on the way to feed Paul's horses. Julia-Rose said 'Oh, my father is in racing too,' and Jamie asked 'Who?'"

When the answer was David Ellis, as in that David Ellis, Richards asked if he could meet with the larger-than-life owner, "And he came up to the farm two months later and we have been good pals ever since," Ellis says.

In between bid spotting and Te Akau, Richards was the beneficiary of the Sunline International Equine Scholarship, granting him a unique trip around the racing world.
He worked with Juddmonte Farms, on yearling preparation with Taylor Made Farm at the famed Saratoga Sale and spent time at Coolmore's base in Tipperary.

From racing manager in 2014 and co-trainer the following year with Stephen Autridge, Richards was named the standalone trainer last year.

Te Akau vision

Clearly Richards is on board with Ellis' ambitious vision for Te Akau Racing.

"We are really excited about what is happening in New Zealand racing and that the Messara Report is being worked through by the advisory committee." - Jamie Richards

"David is getting to the stage in his life where he wants to see racing go ahead and that is why he is working so hard to buy these lovely yearlings so they can stay in New Zealand instead of going offshore," Richards says.

"We are really excited about what is happening in New Zealand racing and that the Messara Report is being worked through by the advisory committee. We are expecting some nice stakes increases for next season, a lot of Te Akau Racing owners just love watching their horses at the races and it would be awesome if stake money reflected what we are trying to achieve by buying these horses."

For the massive Te Akau Racing investment to be considered a success it requires some serious top level success, particularly considering the money poured in from colts and fillies funds over the last few years.

The pay-off for those types investments only comes from stud prospects and the bottom line is that winning big carnival races in Sydney and Melbourne is key.
Te Akau has had huge success over many years in New Zealand but has been unlucky in Australia, dating back to Te Akau Nick (NZ) (Grosvenor {NZ}) finishing second in the G1 Melbourne Cup to Vintage Crop (GB) (Rousillon {USA}).

NZ$1.1m yearling purchase Darci Brahma (Danehill {USA}) went to stud off the back of a G1 in Brisbane but he too ran into a freak when second to Apache Cat (Lion Cavern {USA}) in the 2006 G1 Australian Guineas. 
Princess Coup (Encosta de Lago) was a four-time G1 winner at home and should have won an Aussie G1, but was runner-up in three straight G1s during the 2008 Australian autumn and Xtravagent (Pentire {GB}), a brilliant winner of the 2015 G1 NZ 2000 Guineas, didn't show his best in Sydney or Melbourne.

Gingernuts (NZ)(Iffraaj {GB}) delivered a breakthrough result in the 2017 G1 Rosehill Guineas and later that year Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands) won the G2 Sires' Produce Stakes, but given the level of investment and success in the homeland it is only a matter of time before Te Akau Racing find what Richards calls "next level" success.

"My biggest thrill was when Gingernuts won the Rosehill Guineas because of the importance of the Australian industry to New Zealand," he says. "Some of them are good enough to go to Sydney and Melbourne and compete and that's the next level, isn't it? We need to have a really good horse to go over there and compete and that's always the aim for us."

"My biggest thrill was when Gingernuts won the Rosehill Guineas because of the importance of the Australian industry to New Zealand." - Jamie Richards

The operation was dealt a recent blow when the emerging star Te Akau Shark (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), a winner of five from six and full of promise, suffered a setback and was ruled out of the autumn.

That leaves the brilliant 2-year-old Probabeel (NZ)(Savabeel) as the horse most likely to fulfill the Te Akau dream.

Karaka Millions success

With five runners in the feature, the Karaka Millions meeting loomed as a banner day for the operation but it was already something of a success when expensive yearling purchase Equinox (NZ) (Exceed And Excel) scored on debut at Trentham earlier in the afternoon.

Equinox cost $760,000 at last year's sale and will now be set for the G1 Sistema Stakes, a race the stable won last year with Sword Of Osman (NZ)(Savabeel).
"He won well so and that set us up for the day, he was part of our colt syndicate from last year," Richards said.

The day soon got better.
Richards had already saddled-up winners of the previous two winners of the Karaka Million 2YO with Melody Belle(NZ) and Avantage (Fastnet Rock) and he not only made it a hat-trick with Probabeel but trained the trifecta.

Look out Sydney

Now the Te Akau team has its sites set on Sydney's 2-year-old riches although Richards suggested the main target may not be the G1 Golden Slipper.

"First we will sell all of these yearlings and then we will confirm some plans!" Richards says. "She will have a freshen up and then we will sit down with Cambridge Stud and, but I think would like to target the G1 Sires' Produce a few weeks after the Slipper. She isn't a natural 2-year-old and those Australian horses are real free-running, six-furlong horses and we think this filly will be well suited to the longer races."

"That's the goal, to go there and be more competitive at those carnivals." - Jamie Richards

"That's the goal, to go there and be more competitive at those carnivals," Richards says with more than a hint of trans-Tasman rivalry. "We think Probabeel is good enough. We want to get over there and bring some of that Australian stake money back here."

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