Leica Lucy (right) and Craig Grylls won the NZ Oaks at Trentham in March. Photo/Peter Rubery
One of New Zealand’s most important age group races is moving to Ellerslie.
The NZ Oaks is heading north earlier than some may expect and will run in late February next year.
The classic for 3-year-old fillies is usually held at Trentham but NZ Thoroughbred Racing are bringing it north in the hope of saving its Group 1 status.
While the Oaks is one of the traditional classics for 3-year-olds, its international status as a Group 1 race is assessed by the Asian Pattern Committee, who judge races on the end of season ratings for the first four placegetters.
While high-quality fillies like Leica Lucy, who won the race this year, have triumphed in recent years, many of the country’s best fillies have often been allowed to miss the Oaks.
Some because they can’t hold their form until its mid-March date, others because trainers prefer to head to the NZ Derby two weeks earlier or the ATC Oaks in Sydney three weeks after.
Others trainers will, in slightly more hushed tones, suggest they don’t want their fillies to endure the road trip to Wellington and back from major horse centres like Cambridge and Matamata at the end of a long season or if they are considering future Australian options.
Those factors all play a part in the Oaks not meeting the required ratings to satisfy the Asian Pattern Committee for the past three years, prompting them to vote on its future.
The Oaks being demoted to Group 2 would be enormously embarrassing to the NZ industry and would devalue the race in the eyes of trainers, owners and future breeders looking to buy into the families of those who win it.
The Oaks, sponsored by Al Basti Equiworld Dubai, will now be held at Ellerslie on February 21, two weeks before the NZ Derby, meaning fillies who perform well in the Oaks have the option to start in the Derby.
It is also seen as a better pathway to races like the ATC Oaks held in Sydney in early April.
While the decision will annoy or even anger trainers of some three-year-old staying fillies based in the Central Districts, recent moves of races like the weight-for-age Group 1 Proisir Plate to Ellerslie have proved popular with larger stables.
One reason is Ellerslie is closer to the major training centres than Central Districts tracks such as Hastings or Trentham.
Just as crucially, Ellerslie, after a rocky start with its new StrathAyr track, is seen as a reliable surface likely to race in the preferred Good 4 to Soft 6 range with less chance of a dreaded abandonment.
NZTR have been vocal lately though of its continued support for Central Districts racing and are investigating the building of a new Greenfields track in Flaxmere, outside Hastings, to ensure the future of Hawkes Bay racing.
It will not all be one-way traffic with the Group 1 changes next season too as the NZ Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes will move from Ellerslie to Awapuni.
The race was held on Champions Day at Ellerslie last year but will now head to Awapuni as part of their Sires’ Produce meeting on March 28 next year.
That is a return to its traditional position at the end of the summer racing season and back to being one of the last Group 1s of the term.
It will create a mammoth meeting for the newly refurbished Awapuni track, with the Sires’ Produce and Breeders Stakes both Group 1s as well as three other black type races on the same card.
There will be changes to lead-up races for the Oaks and the Breeders Stakes to provide the smoothest pathways for horses being aimed at them.
The $150,000 Jennian Homes Lowland Stakes will now be held at Trentham on January 31, three weeks out from the Oaks.
The $200,000 Wentwood Grange Cuddle Stakes will now be held at Awapuni on March 1, four weeks out from the NZ Breeders Stakes while the $600,000 Westbury Classic, which was held on Karaka Millions night this year, will move to Champions Day, three weeks before the NZ Breeders Stakes.
The $90,000 Westbury Stud Royal Descent Stakes will move from Boxing Day to Karaka Millions night to provide mares with an opportunity at that meeting.
NZTR chief executive Matt Ballesty said the Group 1 changes underline their commitment to safeguarding the strength of our elite racing.
“Our Group 1 races are the pinnacle of the sport,” says Ballesty.
“These decisions are not taken lightly but they are essential to keep NZ racing strong and competitive on the world stage.”
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.