Richards Single-Minded as He Keeps Raising the Bar

Dennis Ryan reports for Raceform:

Jamie Richards keeps raising the bar at the helm of the Te Akau training operation.

Six wins on one of New Zealand's most iconic racedays is surely something to celebrate, but not so just yet for the shooting star amongst this country's training ranks, Jamie Richards.

While the legion of Te Akau syndicate members were kicking up their heels after a momentous Boxing Day at Ellerslie, Richards and his partner, jockeys' premiership leader Danielle Johnson, were driving home to Matamata with one thing on their minds - their next winners.

“The next day was Sunday but it was still a work day and a lot more ahead of us,” Richards told RaceForm as he reflected on his landmark day. “We could have gone out and celebrated but no, that will have to wait until we hopefully get a few free days after New Year and then once the season is done, take a decent break.”

After important gallops ahead of Ellerslie's New Year's Day card, Monday at Rotorua was business as usual for racing's power couple as they combined for wins with Lilikoi and Get Hitched, while Johnson made it three on the Murray Baker/Andrew Forsman-trained Mongolian Wings. Predictably, Richards got more than the odd jibe following his jockey partner's win on Get Hitched.

“Yeah, the texts started straight afterwards, but they all got the same reply - no comment!” he joked.

After Rotorua, Richards' 2020-21 tally stood at 80 wins (now 81) and Johnson's at 88 (now 91), quite extraordinary to have more than double that of their closest respective rivals with less than five months of the season gone. In a training career that began in the autumn of 2015, 31-year-old Richards has already prepared 542 winners for two premierships (one in partnership with Stephen Autridge) and is now positioned to threaten the all-time record of 143 wins set by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman in 2017-18.

When Richards and Autridge prepared 104 winners in 2015-26, their first full season together, they equalled the record once held by Dave and Paul O'Sullivan when at the peak of their powers in the early 1990s and subsequently bettered by former Te Akau Matamata trainer Mark Walker with 108 wins in 2009-10. For three consecutive seasons the Wexford Stables duo trained in excess of 100 winners, and one of many outstanding achievements was their five-win haul on Boxing Day 1993 headed by Popsy in the New Zealand Derby. 

The significance of going one better on the same raceday 27 years later is not lost on Richards, but at the same time is not something he cares to dwell on. More important is that he plays his pivotal role to the hilt in delivering results for Te Akau Racing's wide clientele.

“Every winner is rewarding and to have that many in one day is great, especially when those high-end horses deliver,” he says in reference to breakthrough stakes wins by Brando and Amarelinha, who were respective $500,000 and $200,000 Karaka purchases by Te Akau principal David Ellis. “They don't all reach that level, but it's important to see horses like them step up.”

Ellis is understandably thrilled to see the fruits of his input and the work by his whole team rewarded so handsomely. That not only backs the faith he put in Richards but also the strength of his conviction in spending up at auction sales before going to work with his wife Karyn in filling syndicates. 

“From the time I first met Jamie he impressed me with his work ethic and to see what he has achieved in such a short time is something that he, his family and everybody at Te Akau should be proud of,” says Ellis. 

“When I won my first race at Paeroa in 1978 with Magnum, I owned half of her with my trainer Bill Ford. He had a horse to saddle for the next race and I went for a drink with the club on my own.

“Celebrating by myself was not that exciting, so thought ‘I want to race with friends going forward'. I never dreamt that I would finish up with so many wonderful friends who are now my owners.”

Richards and Ellis recognise the commitment that syndicate members have made and at the same time appreciate the role that breeders and others make to the stable as individual owners. Ellerslie and Rotorua winners Vamos Bebe (Trelawney Stud), Mai Tai (Wentwood Grange), Lilikoi (Sir Peter Vela) and Get Hitched (Cambridge Stud) are ready examples. 

Numerous major targets await, amongst them the Karaka Million 2YO at Ellerslie on January 23 when Richards will be bidding for his fifth consecutive win. Palamos looked a readymade favourite when he won so professionally on Boxing Day, but he won't be alone in the flagship race at the Ellerslie twilight meeting.

Sneaky Shark, Avonallo, Millefiori and On The Bubbles are also high up the order on the TAB's fixed odds market and their trainer is keeping an open mind as to what the rankings might look like on the night.

“The Karaka Million races are always a major focus on the eve of the Karaka sales,” says Richards. “Once again we've got a lovely bunch of young horses coming through, and while Palamos looks the logical favourite, I'm keen to see how a horse like Avonallo shapes up in the Eclipse Stakes on New Year's Day.”

NZ TRAINERS' PREMIERSHIP - as at 31.12.20

		Wins	2nds	3rds	Stakes	Starts	G & L	SR
1	Jamie Richards	81	67	43	$2,083,985	422	13	5.21
2	Stephen Marsh	35	37	45	$899,655	451	2	12.89
3	Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman	29	31	20	$870,320	225	3	7.76
4	Allan Sharrock	29	18	12	$517,165	117	3	4.03
5	Michael & Matthew Pitman	27	29	22	$597,300	237	0	8.78
6	Tony Pike	22	17	28	$419,370	143	2	6.5
7	Team Rogerson	17	22	18	$429,400	306	2	18
8	Kelvin Tyler & Aimee Tyler	17	22	11	$377,545	135	0	7.94
9	Terri Rae	16	13	5	$304,635	75	2	4.69
10	Lisa Latta	15	19	21	$299,325	200	0	13.33
11	Peter & Dawn Williams	15	10	11	$241,560	79	1	5.27
12	Roger James & Robert Wellwood	15	9	14	$594,860	95	5	6.33
13	Andrew Carston	15	8	19	$183,867	187	0	12.47
14	Kevin Myers	14	24	19	$367,410	181	0	12.93
15	Michael Moroney & Pam Gerard	13	11	9	$228,950	170	0	13.08

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