Soprano Rules Supreme

Taking advantage of on speed bias, Soprano Supreme (4 m Contributer - Falsetto, by Zabeel) careered away to win the $12,000 Waitomo Fuels Rating 65 1950 metres on 3 March at Rotorua.

Sometimes advantage occurs when horses are ridden either forward, or back, or otherwise, during race meetings and it became apparent on this occasion that in or near the lead was preferential.

Under normal circumstances, Soprano Supreme had shown to be more of a closer, but trainer Jamie Richards was onto the bias and instead she was up front from the outset.

Leading apprentice Joe Kamaruddin played his part, being assertive from the gates, applying pressure to lead 400m out, and to her credit Soprano Supreme sailed away to win easing down by three and a half lengths.

After bolting in winning a Maiden Fillies & Mares 1600 metres on 12 January at Matamata, and making up plenty in a Rating 65 1600 metres on 9 February at Ruakaka, Soprano Supreme rated a top three chance.

“She was great,” Richards said. “We'd gone up to Ruakaka, expecting her to run really well and I was disappointed that she missed the kick and ended up back and rattled home. She looked good, but had she been up in the race she probably would have been winning, simple as that.

“I made it clear to Joe (Kamaruddin): give her a good warm up, keep her on her toes before the start, get her out of the barrier and she'll be awfully hard to beat. So it proved and she's a progressive mare.

“She's been given plenty of time to mature by Fortuna and she'll only continue to improve next season.

“Two wins today for the Little Barn, for Myra (Crawford-Smith) and Dad (Paul Richards). Paul has been giving Myra a hand down there, with Sumeet (Pillay), so that's been good and the horses are all going well.”

On Dead4 footing, Soprano Supreme ran 1950 metres in 1:58.5 and confirmed favouritism to return $3.10 & $1.60 on NZ TAB tote.

Having notched 100 wins for the season when Self Obsession (Shocking) won the Lowland Stakes (Gr. 2, 2100m) a day earlier at Hastings, trainer Jamie Richards extended his tally to 102 with two wins, a second and a third, from four runners.

The victory also continued a roll for Fortuna Syndications (Mgr: John Galvin), who celebrated successes with stable-mates Ragamuffin (Belardo) and Mohawk Brave (Extreme Choice) the day beforehand at Hastings.

“Obviously she won very well in maiden grade at Matamata, and was a bit unlucky last start at Ruakaka the way the race was run, but today she got away well, which was probably the winning of the race, but in the end was just too dominant for the rest of the field,” Galvin said.

“She's a mare that's needed time and Jamie (Richards) has certainly given her the opportunity. She's by Contributer, so bred to stay. We bought her as a stayer and she's now starting to hit her straps.

“Horses like her are not easy to come by and she seems to be a really nice staying mare in the making.

“She'll be up to Rating 74 grade now and providing she comes through the race in good order I guess it would be nice to give her a crack at that grade, see if we could get a win there, and then put her out.

“When she comes back in, she'll be eligible for the Karaka Stayers' race, Dunstan Feeds Stayers' Series, those sorts of races could be targets for her and hopefully she could develop into a cups' type mare.

“We've had three wins in two days and 11 wins in nine weeks. And we still have four more runners, if you include Singapore, before we get to the end of the nine weeks.

“On Saturday in Singapore, we've got King Arthur, who has won four in a row, racing against our other horse, Entertainer, who has won seven of nine at the trip (1100m).

“We seem to be cooking with gas at the moment, which is very pleasing, and everything is going well for the Te Akau stables too.”

Purchased by Te Akau principal David Ellis CNZM and Fortuna Syndications for $62,500 at 2019 Karaka Book 1 Sale, from draft of Te Runga Stud, Soprano Supreme was from first crop of Champion Australian Middle Distance Horse of the Year Contributer (High Chaparral), dual Group 1 winner of Chipping Norton (Gr. 1, 1600m) and Ranvet Stakes (Gr. 1, 2000m).

“We were excited by the stock of Contributer and they looked very good on the sales grounds,” Ellis said. “He was a pretty exciting racehorse.

“Her dam (Falsetto) had the quality to finish third in the New Zealand Oaks, and we thought she was particularly good buying.”

Dam Falsetto, by legendary stallion Zabeel (Sir Tristram), was an impressive three time winner from 1600m - 2100m.

Soprano Supreme was strapped by Myra Crawford-Smith.

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz