Cover image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
It was a very different experience for Jamie Richards at this year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale, with the multiple Group 1-winning trainer acquiring talent for his new stable in Hong Kong, rather than assisting his former boss, Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis.
Richards, in December 2021, announced he had been granted a licence for the 2022/23 season by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Since departing New Zealand, Richards has been busy setting up his business, in particular, establishing relationships with prospective clients, something that is key if one is to be a success in the racing-mad jurisdiction.
He has also been steadily adding to his stable, purchasing five 2-year-olds at November’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale, before signing for five yearlings from Book 1 this week at Karaka.
Speaking to TDN AusNZ on Wednesday, Richards explained his buying strategy.
“There’s no fillies in Hong Kong, so that practically cuts the catalogue in half; we’re only looking at colts, and we’re mainly trying to find colts that will have a profile in Hong Kong, like a Deep Field or a Per Incanto,” Richards told TDN AusNZ.
“There’s no fillies in Hong Kong, so that practically cuts the catalogue in half; we’re only looking at colts, and we’re mainly trying to find colts that will have a profile in Hong Kong, like a Deep Field or a Per Incanto.” - Jamie Richards
“We’re trying to buy nice medium-sized, athletic-type horses… the norm is for Hong Kong to buy big, strong, heavy-boned horses, but I haven’t had a lot of luck with those sorts of horses in the past and we’re trying to buy horses that will suit the conditions and the speed of the races in Hong Kong.
“Part of my job at Te Akau was to go around with David Ellis and inspect a lot of yearlings and I feel I learnt a lot during that time, and now we’re trying to bring that to the business and Hong Kong, as well.
“Most of the time, I think, races are won and lost in the sales ring, it’s about getting the right stock in the door.”
Handsome Rebel handed Jamie Richards his first win in Hong Kong | Image courtesy of the HKJC
Richards said the Ready to Run market is becoming increasingly popular within Hong Kong and he intends to continue to tap into it.
“We’ve got a few Ready to Run horses down with my father, Paul, in Matamata,” he said.
“The Ready to Run Sale has quite a lot of appeal to Chinese owners, because they’re buying for next season’s permits and usually the horse is there within 12 months.
“Another thing effecting the ability to acquire tried stock… the price of trial winners has become very expensive.
“The prizemoney in Australia is so strong and quite often somebody with a trial winner will get a call from someone in Australia, saying, ‘We’ll give you x amount for the horse and you can stay in for a share if you want’. I think that has quite a lot of appeal of the trial winners, whereas they don’t get that opportunity to be able to do that when the horse goes to Hong Kong.”
A handful of well-related colts
Richards, in partnership with Andrew Williams Bloodstock (FBAA), went to NZ$400,000 for Lot 632 this week – a colt by Newgate Farm’s super stallion Deep Field out of the winning All Too Hard mare Waruna. The colt was consigned by Carlaw Park.
Deep Field is the reigning Champion Sire and set a new record for seasonal earnings in Hong Kong in 2021/22. He currently sits second (behind Starspangledbanner) on the table this term.
Lot 632 - Deep Field x Waruna (colt) | Image courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock
The Kiwi explained Deep Field – the sire of Sunday’s Hong Kong Classic Mile hero Voyage Bubble - is understandably very popular with owners in Hong Kong.
When a sire makes his mark in Hong Kong and enjoys a run of success, he can quickly become very popular among the local owners, even if he doesn’t possess the commercial appeal of a Deep Field.
“I still think type is very important and we always try and buy a type first, but if a particular type matches up with what I would call a sexy stallion for Hong Kong, then obviously that horse is worth a bit of money,” he said.
“I still think type is very important and we always try and buy a type first, but if a particular type matches up with what I would call a sexy stallion for Hong Kong, then obviously that horse is worth a bit of money.” - Jamie Richards
“We were lucky enough to buy a lovely Deep Field colt on Tuesday night and we tried to buy one a little bit earlier; the Hong Kong Jockey Club bought him, so we will have to watch him anyway.”
Another stallion that has attracted the interest of Hong Kong owners is Per Incanto (USA). The Little Avondale Stud resident finished fourth in the Sires’ Premiership last season, thanks largely to the Group 2 placegetter, the Pierre Ng-trained Duke Wai (NZ).
Per Incanto tallied 19 individual winners and 30 wins last campaign and, ahead of Wednesday night’s meeting at Happy Valley, his six winners have logged seven wins.
Gallery: Some of the sires that Hong Kong owners are attracted to
Richards and Williams paid NZ$320,000 for Lot 255 – a Per Incanto colt from the Little Avondale Stud draft. He is out of the winning O’Reilly (NZ) mare Irish Cream (NZ) and his third dam is the Group 1 victress Dantelah (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}).
“We picked up a nice Per Incanto colt early on Day 2. He is out of a nice, fast O’Reilly mare that we trained; she had a lot of speed and unfortunately, we didn’t see the best of her,” Richards commented.
“Hopefully those two colts can go into our system down here (in New Zealand) and then come up to Hong Kong for their 3-year-old year.”
Another Richards-Williams purchase was Lot 561 – a colt by the trainer’s Group 1 winner Embellish (NZ). Offered by Cambridge Stud, the yearling fetched NZ$175,000 and is from the winning Fastnet Rock mare Stylish Achiever, with his second and third dams both stakes winners.
Lot 561 - Embellish (NZ) x Stylish Achiever (colt) | Image courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock
“We trained Embellish, he was a good colt and won the (2017) 2000 Guineas. He didn’t show his best in Australia for a number of different reasons,” said Richards.
“He’s (Embellish) had a good start to his career in New Zealand.
“He’s (Embellish) by Savabeel and he’s got a wonderful female family behind him, as well, so we think he’s a really good chance at stud.
“He’s (Embellish) by Savabeel and he’s got a wonderful female family behind him, as well, so we think he’s a really good chance at stud.” - Jamie Richards
“This colt, we bought more on type, than the stallion. He’s a beautiful type of horse, he moved really well and he’s got a good female family, he’s out of a Fastnet Rock mare, who we’ve had quite a bit of luck with, through horses like Avantage, so there’s always that sort of appeal that comes to mind.”
Richards and Williams also paid NZ$150,000 for Lot 103 – a War Decree (USA) colt from the Riversley Park draft, as well as NZ$180,000 for Lot 266 – a colt by Rubick, offered by Cambridge Stud.
A steady start
Prior to Wednesday night’s Happy Valley meeting, Richards has had 12 wins from 137 runners, for earnings of HK$11,564,670 (AU$2,092,000). His first winner came in October with a horse he trained in New Zealand – Handsome Rebel (Denman).
One of the more promising gallopers in his stable is the former Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou-trained gelding Sinba (Xtravagant {NZ}). A four-time winner in Australia, Sinba scored at the second time of asking in Hong Kong (in a 1400-metre Class 3).
“We were a little bit slow out of the blocks, just trying to understand how they do it up there, it’s a very unique environment; you’ve pretty much got to adapt or die. We’re getting our head around how they do it and the horses are starting to run well, and hopefully we’ve got some nice younger horses to bring out in the second half of the season to build on that little bit of momentum we’ve got up at the moment,” Richards remarked.
