New All-Time Season Record for Te Akau's Jamie Richards
18 April, 2021
Jamie Richards became the second Te Akau trainer to break the national record for wins in a season when Feelin' Fancy (Rip Van Winkle) became win number 144 in the $22,500 Rating 65 1600 metres on Saturday 17 April at Hastings.
Mark Walker, winner of five NZ training premierships before establishing the stable for Te Akau in 2010 at Kranji Racecourse, Singapore, established a new domestic record (108) in 2009/10 after surpassing the long-standing 104 set by Dave O'Sullivan 17 years earlier.
Walker has since set the benchmark in Singapore. Champion Trainer in 2015, 2017 (record 87 wins), and 2019, runner-up twice, third, and fourth, he currently lies second this season.
While grooming for the top job, Richards began his training career in partnership with Stephen Autridge at Te Akau in 2015/16, the pair winning the premiership with 104 wins. They finished third (74) in 2016/17, second (81) in 2017/18, before Richards went solo.
Ending 2018/19 in second with 98 wins, Richards was left stranded on 99 wins when NZTR called a halt to racing on March 25 last year, for three months due to COVID. It was a case of what might have been, when sailing along 10 wins ahead of target with a view to chasing down the record of 143 set by the Baker/Forsman Stable in 2017/18.
He ended the 2019/20 season with 101 wins and leading the premiership in all facets: wins, prize money, Group & Listed wins, and the best strike rate among the top 10 trainers in the country.
Adding to his 17 stakes' victories in New Zealand, Richards added three Group One wins in Australia, 11 of his 20 Group & Listed wins coming in Group One races.
Although 2019/20 was memorable, Richards has embellished the record considerably this season.
On 28 January, he completed the fastest training century in New Zealand racing history, bettering the previous record by nearly three months, when Exaltation (Not A Single Doubt), a half-sister to stable-mate Melody Belle (Commands), won at Hastings.
On 27 February the young trainer established a new domestic stakes' record of 26 in a season when Avantage (Fastnet Rock) recorded her eighth Group One in the Weight-For-Age Classic (Gr. 1, 1600m) at Otaki.
His current standing in New Zealand: 147 wins, 35 stakes' wins, $5.74m domestic stakes, plus four stakes' wins in Australia, including two Group Ones. Richards has, so far, trained 13 winners of the 21 Group One races on offer (strike rate 1.6), and 30% of overall stakes' winners.
He has averaged 16 wins per month, over 4 wins each week, and a forecast could see him extend the record to approximately 170 by season end on 31 July.
In February at Te Aroha, Richards gave rider Danielle Johnson her 1000thcareer win when Feelin' Fancy (Rip Van Winkle) obliged. In a short stint with the trainer, Johnson has registered 67 wins while leading the premiership on 141, and 71 ahead of her nearest rival.
Among season highlights, former Champion Two-Year-Old and reigning dual Horse of the Year Melody Belle (Commands) surpassed the record of 13-time Group One winner Sunline (Desert Sun) with a blistering performance in the Bonecrusher NZ Stakes (Gr. 1, 2000m) to notch her 14thGroup One victory.
Another former Champion Two-Year-Old, Avantage (Fastnet Rock) recorded her ninth Group One win when winning the NZ Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes (Gr. 1, 1600m), advancing her record as the highest Group One winner for her Champion Sire.
The $1m Karaka Million 2YO (Restricted Listed, 1200m) winner On the Bubbles (Brazen Beau) was the fifth consecutive in the race for Te Akau, and he became the yet another Group One winner with a powerful performance in the Sires' Produce Stakes (Gr. 1, 1400m) to provide Richards with his 45thGroup One success.
It was the 21sttwo-year-old win this season for Richards, currently ranked eighth in the TRC Global Trainers Rankings. Incredibly, he has lined up 13 juveniles in 43 races for 21 wins (strike rate 2.04) and 15 placed.
Another top juvenile colt, Sword of State (Snitzel) has won four of his five starts including the Sistema Stakes (Gr. 1, 1200m).
In Australia, Probabeel has flown the Te Akau flag, scoring emphatically in the Bill Ritchie Handicap (Gr. 3, 1400m), recording a tremendous victory in the iconic Epsom Handicap (Gr. 1, 1600m), at Randwick, before a brilliant victory in the Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes (Gr. 3, 1200m) and gigantic effort to win the Futurity Stakes (Gr. 1, 1400m), at Caulfield.
A bright young star in the New Zealand racing industry, Richards (31) has a Bachelor of Commerce in Management and Accounting and a Diploma in Marketing from Otago University, was selected for the Sunline International Management Scholarship to undertake stud and stable experience in Europe and the USA, and had an upbringing that instilled equine knowledge well beyond his years - the son of Paul Richards (1000 wins club as a jockey, trainer, now Te Akau travelling foreman), mother Leanne Richards (racing administrator), and sister Libby is Te Akau racing manager.
A modern thinker in the training ranks, Richards has shown a flair for his chosen career. He has a thorough understanding of form and the handicapping system, which sees him place horses to advantage. A deep pedigree knowledge and judge of conformation has made him instrumental in the selection of young horses for purchase, and keeping abreast of the latest veterinarian practices, feeding procedures, and training methods, in order to optimise potential in horses.
He has shown the ability to run a sizeable number of both horses and team, with terrific communication systems in place for owners and a zest for success that is certainly standing by him.
We could not be more proud!
