The successful training partnership of Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray have kicked off the new season with an early milestone, earning their 100th domestic win as a combination at the Cambridge Synthetic on Wednesday.
In his own right, Ritchie has been training for more than three decades with 538 domestic winners to his credit including eight at Group One level. Since joining Murray in partnership in 2020, the pair have accumulated six further stakes winners, including a sweep of last season’s Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) and Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m) with Mahrajaan.
With five competitive chances throughout the card on Wednesday, Ritchie and Murray hoped to pick up the century at their home meeting and wasted no time in doing so picking up the opener, the Cambridge Equine Hospital 1550, with Mood Changer.
Ritchie had allowed the four-year-old plenty of time to find her feet on raceday and that patience paid off, winning fresh-up with some authority on the line after two unplaced runs through December and January.
“I loved the way she hit the line hard late and got her head nice and low. She’s been working on the poly at home, so it was always going to suit her,” Ritchie said.
“She’s a stunning style of a filly, she’s just taken a bit of time to work out what’s going on. She’s been a bit keen in her races and when we trialled her last time we rode her cold, and even before the corner she was trucking up beautifully.
“We rode her that way today, letting her get into her rhythm and she’s finished off very well.
“She’s more of a summer horse, but we might try our arm at Hastings for a bit more prize money.”
A daughter of War Decree, Mood Changer was an inexpensive purchase for Ritchie and persevering through early issues with the mare has proved worthwhile.
“I paid $500 for her at Kevin Hickman’s dispersal sale and I knew she had a cyst on her stifle, but that’s the most successful operation we’ve found in the past so I spent more money getting the surgery than buying the horse,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to put clients into a horse that was a risk, so I just decided to keep her myself.
“I really liked her, and I trained her dam Footsie, she had a lot of ability but she wasn’t sound unfortunately.”
After reaching the milestone, Ritchie was pleased for Murray and was swift in recognising Nassak Diamond’s dominant victory in the iconic Jericho Cup (4600m) at Warrnambool last December as a highlight for the expat-Irishman.
“Mood Changer was Colm’s 100th winner and ours in partnership, we’ve been going for about four years so it’s great,” he said.
“He’s a good horseman, he’s got to his 100 pretty quick and he’s obviously going to make a very good trainer in his own right in time.
“We were pretty confident with Rick Williams that Nassak Diamond could win the Jericho Cup last year, to the degree that we flew Colm over for the weekend as I’d been there with the horse all week.
“That was a big thrill because he’s got a hurdle rider background up in Ireland, and of course the Jericho Cup is a hurdle rider’s race worth $300,000.
“It was really cool for us to be on course and enjoy that, it was something special.
“As far as I was concerned, the Auckland Cup was a big kick for me because I was brought up around the streets around Ellerslie.
“My grandfather trained there and it was the race I got a massive buzz out of.
“We’ve had some nice horses and it’s been good, so long may it continue.
“We look like we’ve got a good season coming with Pearl Of Alsace, Nereus and Mahrajaan as well as some trialling three-year-old’s and poly winners that we hope to advance onto the grass this season.”
Ritchie also made mention of the benefits the Cambridge Synthetic track has offered their talented contingent heading into the spring period, including acting as an early springboard for Gr.2 Awapuni Gold Cup (2400m) winner Nereus last season.
“We’ve got some nice spring horses coming through, and in our opinion, the polytrack is a massive advantage at this time of the year,” he said.
“Rather than trialling on heavy tracks, we would much rather have a trial, exhibition gallop or even a race at the horses’ first start so they can get on that even surface.
“We’ve taken advantage of that, and it’s not because we think they’re just poly horses. We think they are progressive horses and it’s easier for us to walk over the road from home and they can be back in their paddock quickly afterwards to recover.
“We can bounce to the major meetings on turf from there, for example Nereus won on the poly at his second start and he’s gone on to win an Awapuni Gold Cup (Gr.2, 2100m), so there’s definitely a right place for it, particularly at this time of the year when our heavy tracks are inconsistent.”
