Racing: Race delays could favour Jamie Richards and Te Akau Racing

Cornflower Blue, third in the Wellington Guineas, will race the Breeders' Stakes on April 10. Photo / Trish Dunell

It's a case of business as usual for Te Akau Racing trainer Jamie Richards despite the postponement of the Golden Slipper meeting at Rosehill due to heavy rain on Saturday.

Officials elected to push the card back a week, with the knock-on effect that all feature race days in Sydney through autumn will run a week later than scheduled.

Richards has several stable stars set to travel to Sydney for black-type assignments in the coming weeks, including the star of the show at Trentham on Saturday, Group 1 New Zealand Oaks winner Amarelinha.

Richards was enjoying the aftermath of another successful Saturday after producing Need I Say More to win the Group 2 Wellington Guineas ahead of a stunning performance by Amarelinha in the Oaks, where she won by a length after botching the start and nearly dislodging rider Opie Bosson.

Richards was pleased with the performances of Amarelinha, Need I Say More and Cornflower Blue, who ran third in the Wellington Guineas, but was left puzzled by the effort of Brando in the same race after the Savabeel colt finished a lacklustre seventh in his first run back following a similar performance in the Group 3 CS Hayes Stakes at Flemington in February.

"We're going to give him a good going over, as he disappointed with that effort," he said.

"I was pleased with him, as his work had been good, but it might be that Australian race took more out of him than we thought.

"He's too good a horse to be performing like that, so I would expect he will bounce back once we have a bit more of an understanding of what went wrong."

While there is plenty more to achieve in New Zealand over the last four months of the season, Richards will be focused on the members of his team heading to Sydney, although he will keep a close eye on track conditions there over the next few weeks.

"We are going to stick to the plans we had made before the shift in the carnival dates. If you start to alter things too much, that is when problems can occur. In some cases, the delay could be a good thing.

"If Amarelinha goes over to tackle the Australian Oaks [Group 1, 2400m], that extra week will be of benefit, as it allows her a few more days to recover from her exertions at Trentham. She is one that definitely needs a good track, so that factor will have a bearing on whether we go or not.

"We will also stick to our original plan with Melody Belle, who will race in the Tancred Stakes [Group 1, 2400m] next."

Richards also confirmed that Avantage and Cornflower Blue would contest the Group 1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes at Te Aroha on April 10, with Avantage likely to have an exhibition gallop between races at Matamata before then.

- NZ Racing Desk