Having captured the Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) with Quick Thinker (So You Think), the Kiwis have set their sights on a Classic cleansweep with class filly Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) in the Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick on Saturday.
New Zealand horses have enjoyed a heady run of success in Sydney’s autumn blue ribands with three of the past six winners of the Oaks all trained in New Zealand.
That’s not including last year’s winner Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed) who was Sydney-trained but born and raised in New Zealand where she did her early racing.
Trainer Jamie Richards will be the hope of his homeland at Randwick on Saturday with Probabeel after making a belated decision to extend her preparation.
The filly sits high in the market at $4, behind only the Godolphin-trained Colette (Hallowed Crown) ($3) who is on a seven-day back up after winning last weekend’s Gr.3 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m).
Probabeel is untested at the distance but she is stoutly bred. By noted sire of stayers Savabeel, she is out of Pins mare Far Fetched who was stakes placed over 2100m before finishing unplaced in the 2014 Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m).
The New Zealand industry is renowned for breeding quality stayers and Richards said it is no surprise his country has had such success in the three-year-old Classics in Australia.
“They’ve always been kind to us and they are nice races to target because obviously our horses can stay a bit,” Richards said.
“It’s nice to be targeting a race we have had success in in the past as a nation.”
The class runner in Saturday’s renewal, Proabeel kicked off her campaign in January with back-to-back wins in New Zealand and brought that form to Australia, winning the Gr.1 Surround Stakes (1400m).
She was runner-up to Funstar (Adelaide) in the Gr.2 Phar Lap Stakes (1500m) and just failed to reel in Shout The Bar in the Gr.1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) last start.
That was to have been her grand final but with the shape of future racing carnivals uncertain, Richards decided to press on to the Oaks.
“She is getting to the end of a pretty long campaign now but with so much uncertainty around what’s going to happen in the spring, I think we’ve made the right decision to run her,” Richards said.
“She has held her fitness and she’s continued to train well so we’ve certainly been pleased with her.”
