Matamata Win 4 of 4 - Truly Fabulous

Te Akau trainer Jamie Richards admitted to a slight error of judgement with Fabulous Flight (5 g I Am Invincible - Court Flying, by Flying Spur) and only too pleased to see him back on song and registering his fourth win on Sunday in the $11,000 Wrightway Builders Rating 72 1400 metres at Matamata.

A horse that had no obstacle advancing through the grades last season, his progress stymied in Rating 72 grade and Richards may have found the answer.

“He's not a bad horse, but I did try to get him to stay over longer distances in the spring and also he got a bit crook,” Richards said. “We gave him a bit of a break and he's really bounced back to form. 1400m and a mile, let's hope he can get through the grades a bit further.”

Fabulous Flightwas without all favours when resuming with a good third in the $11,000 Rating 72 1400 metres on 19 January at Te Rapa, running the fastest last 600m (33.2) on the day, and a winner three times to 1600 metres he saluted again after rider Opie Bosson summed things up to a nicety.

Bosson inadvertently helped slacken the tempo by sitting off the leader in second and after challenging to level at the 300m he was too strong when gaining the upper hand near the line.

As is often the case, horses find form at a similar time of year and during a period of three wins from five starts Fabulous Flight had won twice last February. 

Owned by the Te Akau Fabulous Flight Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), after being purchased by David Ellis for $205,000 from the draft of Lyndhurst Farm at the 2016 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale, he is a lovely type of horse with excellent depth in his pedigree. 

“It's a great time to be winning races when we're selling all these yearlings and to match the four winners Jamie (Richards) trained on 30 December at Taupo, it's amazing to have achieved another four-win haul so soon,” Ellis said.

“It's been an unbelievable start to the year for all our investors that have given Karyn and me, and Jamie, and Mark (Walker), such a huge amount of support. 

“All four of the winners today we syndicated from a range of sales, and it's just a thrill to see these owners getting great results. We put so much into every facet of our business and we do it for our owners and the New Zealand racing industry, which every one of us wants to see prosper. 

“That we get the support from owners is truly humbling and believe me, we do everything we can to get the best out of all our horses. 

“We've just bought 33 yearlings at Karaka, plus eight on the Gold Coast and it's a huge job selling shares in them. As a lot of people know, I don't have a celebratory drink until all the horses are sold and paid for, and the weather is pretty hot, so we're at the farm working our butts off on the phone and computer. 

“I'm thrilled to report that these horses are selling very quickly, but there are still shares available and I invite people to ring us with any queries and of course the horses are all here at the farm to be inspected. 

“It's a hell of a lot of work, but days like today and what has transpired already this season for Te Akau makes it all worthwhile. 

“We've spent a lot of money buying all these horses, with quality pedigrees and good residual value and some of them are colts that we hope to turn into stallions. We've currently got seven stallions at stud in the Southern Hemisphere, horses we've bought and syndicated to race, and we hope we've just bought the next Darci Brahma. 

“Four wins today took Jamie's tally to 80 this season and we're only halfway through, so it's just brilliant, really. Jamie is such a great guy to work with and it's marvellous seeing the success that he and all the team are having.”

Ellis said attentions would soon turn to the dual Group One meeting next Saturday at Te Rapa, and reported that reigning Horse of the Year Melody Belle (Commands) was heading next week to Melbourne, while both Cox Plate (Gr. 1, 2040m) placed Te Akau Shark (Rip Van Winkle) and recent Karaka Million 3YO Classic (Restricted Listed, 1600m) winner Probabeel (Savabeel) were soon headed to Sydney. 

Fabulous Flight was strapped by Trevor Stewart.

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz

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