Two Te Akau Saturday Wins

After winning the first 2YO race for the season, Te Akau NZ trainer Jamie Richards saw his first Riccarton runner for the season comes up trumps ...

Showing no shortage of grit and determination, Quattro Katie  (4 m Zoustar - Kakakakatie, by Zedative) resumed with a win in the $22,500 Speight's Rating 65 1000 metres on Saturday at Riccarton.

Ridden by Jason Laking, Quattro Katie utilized barrier two to secure a trailing position, popped off at the 300m, and with the leader in her sights she fought hard to the line after taking over at the 150m.

“It was a good effort and a lovely ride,” said Paul Richards, overseeing the Te Akau team for son Jamie (Richards) at Riccarton.

“The heavy track was probably the only reservation, but down the chute was alright and it's just the last 400 metres once they get onto the course proper. Her work had been good and she'd settled in really well, probably because she's been here before, and she's quite tough.”

Quattro Katie had been unlucky not to win during a Southern spring campaign last season, when placing three times from five starts, including a third in the Canterbury Belle Stakes (Listed, 1200m), and spelled following a clinical victory over1200 metres in March at Matamata.

“She'd finished third in the Canterbury Belle and as Jason Laking said when he got off, ‘she's a lot stronger this time around'. Jason's here riding gallops for us on Tuesday's and Thursday's and doing a super job. 

“The team is doing well down here and all in good order, but we just have to wait for the tracks to come right. We had heavy rain yesterday (Friday) and we'll trial some on Monday at Ashburton, because we scratched five today given its Heavy11.”

Quattro Katie had looked good in two trials - most recently second on heavy ground at Avondale - and brought the right course form to rate an each way chance. She paid $4.20 & $1.80 on the NZ TAB tote.

She was purchased as a yearling by Te Akau principal David Ellis for $150,000, from the draft of Baramul Stud, at the 2017 Gold Coast Sale, and recorded her second win from nine starts for owners Debra & Don Fox, Barbara Heeney, Sandy Moore, Henry Norcross, Nathan Pene, Jo-Ann & Wayne Phillips, and Colin Robertson.

“She really deserved her win at Matamata, was a stakes placed Maiden, has strengthened to win again fresh-up, and I'm thrilled for her owners,” Ellis said. “She was very brave.

“She's by a Champion young stallion that is now shuttling to the Northern Hemisphere, so it's terrific for her value to be a daughter of Zoustar. And, from that sale on the Gold Coast, Quattro Katie was the last filly to sell.

Her sire, Zoustar (Northern Meteor), trained by Chris Waller, was sold to stud for $14 million in the week leading up to his victory in the 2013 Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr. 1, 1200m) at Flemington - providing jockey Jim Cassidy with his 100^thGroup One winner. Zoustar won six of his nine starts, including two Group Ones and two Group Twos.

“The team down south is doing a fantastic job and you only get these results if everyone is working hard,” Ellis said. “It was a shame we had to scratch so many today because they usually have a terrific track at this time of the year but we can't control the weather.

“We're aiming to have these horses peaking for Cup Week in November at Riccarton, and we've got incredible staff looking after our horses in a few different places. We're racing at three venues in two countries today and this morning we worked horses in Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, Matamata, and Christchurch. We're taking Caliburn to the races today at Moonee Valley, to give him a day out. He's coming up enormously well and we look forward to him racing next Saturday (14 Sept.) at Flemington.”

Quattro Katie was strapped by Lydia Truesdale.

“Lydia is a friend of Julia-Rose,” Richards reported. “They went to school together, met up again at University, and she works for us every morning riding work and she's a big help. Quattro Katie was the first horse she'd ever strapped at the races, so she's got a winner first-up.”

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz

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