Richards Reaps Benefits of Waikato Stud Connection

Dennis Ryan of RaceForm (subscribe today) reports:

“What now seems so long ago, to be involved with Mark and Lisa and the team out at Waikato, that was a special time for me.”

Victory by Amarelinha in the New Zealand Oaks took Jamie Richards' Group One tally to 44 and her sire Savabeel's to 22.

The connection between Jamie Richards and his ongoing success with horses connected to Waikato Stud has an element of history to it.

Last Saturday's Al Basti Equiworld New Zealand Oaks win by Amarelinha was yet another milestone in the remarkable career of the new force in this country's training ranks. It's extraordinary to think that in less than six years, 31-year-old Richards has already trained more the 600 winners, and no less than 44 Group One races amongst them.

At the end of last weekend his tally for the 2020-21 domestic season stood at 130, which includes a record 32 black-type wins and New Zealand stakes in excess of $5.2 million. Those last two figures are already records and Richards needs only another 14 wins to set another new benchmark.

He hasn't got to where he now finds himself by accident; it has been a work in progress from the time he was born into a fully immersed racing family and as he grew up he decided this was the industry he also wanted to belong to. Trackwork and stable duties as a Wingatui teenager were followed by stints with northern stables, then university studies and a brief amateur rider career that netted four wins from eight raceday rides.

After graduating from Otago University with a Bachelor of Commerce in Management and Accounting, he headed overseas on an NZTBA Sunline Scholarship that entailed eight months with studs and aligned operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, followed on his return home by an internship in the marketing department of New Zealand Bloodstock.

All the while Richards was building his CV, but he still didn't know where it would ultimately take him. One of his pivotal stints was at Waikato Stud, beginning with the breeding season and completed with summer yearling preparations. That provided further valuable experience, however he was finding himself increasingly drawn to the racing side of the industry and the turning point was an approach from Te Akau principal David Ellis offering him the role as the stable's racing manager.

In the autumn of 2015 he was elevated to a training partnership with Stephen Autridge and from that point he has flown: a first premiership title the following season, sole charge at Te Akau Racing's Matamata base in 2018-19 and records that continue to tumble. Ellis has been the most significant individual in the rise of Richards, who also credits Autridge as the voice of experience when he most needed it, and then there's that Waikato Stud relationship and a stallion called Savabeel.

Last Saturday Amarelinha became the 22^nd individual Group One winner sired by New Zealand's undisputed champion. The big filly is also the sixth Richards-trained Group One winner by Savabeel, following in chronological order Hall Of Fame, Embellish, Sword Of Osman, Probabeel and Cool Aza Beel. Of similar magnitude is the influence that Waikato Stud's home-grown champion O'Reilly has played in Savabeel's 22-strong elite list. The Richards-trained Embellish and Amarelinha are both out of O'Reilly mares, along with Costume, Diademe and Savaria - a quite remarkable proportion by any measure.

“What now seems so long ago, to be involved with Mark and Lisa and the team out at Waikato, that was a special time for me,” Richards reflected after another big weekend. “Having access to the progeny of such a wonderful stallion as Savabeel is one thing, but it's the relationship that I still have with the Chittick family that really means so much to me.”

Mark Chittick likewise remembers that period and most of all the impression that Richards made on him. “During his time at Waikato Stud Jamie was an extremely professional young man, that's what always struck me. I knew then his passion was with the racing side of things and we were happy to see him move on to Te Akau, but he's one of those people that no matter what he ended up doing in life, he was always going to make it work.

“You take Amarelinha for example - she had a hard run in the Sunline Vase, yet two weeks or so later Jamie got her to Trentham in perfect order to seal it with victory in the Oaks. I'm not a trainer but I do know that would have taken some doing.

“His dedication and energy, his attention to detail, those are his outstanding qualities. We've remained close and on top of his professionalism and what that means from a work perspective, we do a lot of other things together as well, which is pretty cool.”

From his own corner, Chittick continues to be amazed by what Savabeel is achieving, not to mention the role of past Waikato stallions in that space. “He's an incredible stallion, he just keeps raising the bar. He's got Mo'unga and Milford lining up in the Rosehill Guineas this weekend and so it goes on, then his mares are starting to do it. There's the Redwood filly (Tokorangi) and the Power filly (Force Of Will) already Group winners.

“And what about O'Reilly, he's still there doing the business through his daughters. The way his mares have worked with Savabeel is massive, our own filly Cornflower Blue looks like she's got a decent win in her, and then there's the Hong Kong Derby winner by Darci Brahma out of an O'Reilly mare. Long may it continue.”