Racing: Opie Bosson wins Railway at Ellerslie with Avantage, but facing suspension for Karaka Million

Avantage ridden by Opie Bosson winning the Group 1 Railway at Ellerslie. Photo / Trish Dunell

The king of Ellerslie is being forced to abdicate his throne for the biggest meeting of the year.

And Opie Bosson admits it hurts.

The champion jockey found himself in his natural habitat, the Ellerslie winner's circle, after the $200,000 Railway today, producing a perfect ride on Avantage to grab Julius in the winner's first race for 10 weeks, just another piece of training greatness from Jamie Richards.

But the rare fist pump Bosson produced as Avantage crossed the line could just as easily been an uppercut for himself for a less than ideal day.

Bosson copped two suspensions for careless riding before the Railway and now faces missing New Zealand's richest meeting of the year, the Karaka Million on January 23.

He rode the winner of both $1 million races last year and could have been on the favourite in one and second favourite in another in three weeks.

Instead he is likely to be watching from the sidelines, which will sting the pride but more importantly could also cost him over $50,000 in winning riding percentages.

While Bosson hadn't had time to work through the machinations of appeals he was all but resigned to missing the mega meeting.

"It will be bloody hard to cop if I do," said Bosson.

"To be honest it hasn't been a great day for me. Two charges in those races and I didn't ride In A Twinkling (City Of Auckland Cup) that well.

"So that was one of the reasons for the fist pump on Avantage, getting it right in the Group 1."

Bosson had to get it right to win too, with Avantage needing his ride and her class to get home over defending champion Julius, who was beautifully rated by Michael McNab to button off the speed in the middle stages and almost steal the race.

Levante flashed home from last, her task when hemmed away from an inside barrier draw, all but impossible as the leader scooted the last 600m in 32.5 seconds.

It was Avantage's fifth Group 1 win and she can now return to the Telegraph she won last season at Trentham ideally suited by the weight-for-age conditions.

She won't have Bosson there but a ready-made replacement in premiership leader Danielle Johnson, who rode Avantage all spring and does much of Te Akau's riding anyway.

Johnson is now the hot favourite to be on the Te Akau elite for the rest of January, including their top two seeds on Karaka Million night, and horses like Brando in the Levin Stakes as well as Avantage.

But with the borders closed so jockeys like James McDonald can't make hit and run raids for the Karaka Million there will be some very good ponies looking for new pilots unless Bosson can get some days trimmed off the severity of his suspension.

While Bosson's suspension wasn't what Te Akau wanted to start 2021, they capped a remarkable carnival by winning two other features, both in the hands of Johnson.

She produced a gem on Savy Yong Blonk to win the City Of Auckland Cup, getting a spot early and then holding her up until late.

"It was nice to get a big Cup here," said Jamie Richards.

"I know people think we train a lot of age-group races so to get a Cup here at Ellerslie is satisfying," said Richards.

Savy Yong Blonk just grabbed Platinum Invador, who was massive coming from near last to provide a reversal of last year's quinella in the same race.

The Richards-Johnson combo also took out the $100,000 Eclipse Stakes as filly Imperatriz remained unbeaten in her second start by powering home with Stormy to down the favourites who went too hard early.

Neither first or second are eligible for the Karaka Million, suggesting Palamos is likely to be the pre-draw favourite for that $1 million race.

That meant Richards finished his remarkable two days with nine wins at the carnival, missing an unheard of 10 wins by a nose in the last race.