Avantage on Cloud Nine After Ninth Group One

Karaka graduate Avantage (Fastnet Rock) added a ninth Group One victory to her remarkable record in Saturday’s $200,000 Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) at Te Rapa. 

Bought by Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis from The Oaks Stud’s draft at the 2017 Premier Sale, Avantage has won three Group One races over 1200m (plus a $1m Karaka Million 2YO), two over 1400m, three over 1600m and one over 2000m. She has won 16 of her 27 starts overall, earning $2.16m – more than 10 times her purchase price.

Avantage now sits in second place on the all-time list of the most Group One victories on New Zealand racetracks – four behind extraordinary stablemate Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands), who was also bought by Ellis at Karaka. Saturday’s win also moved Avantage into the top five on the all-time list of the most Group One wins by a New Zealand racehorse in any country.

With champion trainer Jamie Richards in Sydney, his father Paul saddled Avantage at Te Rapa.

“Tough, isn’t she,” he said. “She did a wee bit of work early, but got a nice drag along outside the leader and was just too tough.

“The only query was the rain-affected track, she hadn’t won on soft going before, but physically and mentally she was first class.

“She is a very versatile mare that has just got better with age.”

Ridden by Danielle Johnson in Saturday’s fillies and mares’ feature, Avantage slid forward early in the race to sit outside the front-running Familia (NZ) (Makfi), then took control rounding the home turn.

She found herself under siege on both sides in the straight, as Coventina Bay (NZ) (Shamexpress) charged home on her inside while Travelling Light (NZ) (El Roca) ate into her margin out wide.

But Avantage has a well-deserved reputation as a fierce competitor who rarely lets a rival pass her in the last 200m of a race, and she showed all of those amazing fighting qualities on Saturday. She found more and more, holding those two rivals out and winning by a neck.

“Every time she heard the horses come around her, she just fought that little bit more,” premiership-leading jockey Johnson said. “She didn’t win by much, but she still had plenty up her sleeve.

“This was my fourth Group One win on her, and each one’s very special to me. I just feel like the luckiest girl, being able to ride a horse like Avantage. She’s a once-in-a-lifetime horse for me, that’s for sure.

“She’s just been too good, and I always knew she would be, because she’s beaten them all before. She was dropping back from 2000m to a mile, but she’s just so adaptable. She can sit outside the leader in a 1200m weight-for-age, and she can do the same thing over 2000m. She likes any trip. She’s just better than everyone else, so she can win at all distances.

“I don’t get nervous on her, because I know how good she is. She’s a mare that gets herself out of trouble, and she’s just fast.

“She deserves a little break now, she’s done so well this prep. Since Melody Belle left the barn, Avantage has definitely stepped up to being the champion in the stable. She knows she’s good, and she is good.”

There was a dead heat for second on Saturday, including Coventina Bay, who was offered by Windsor Park Stud at the 2017 Select Sale and failed to meet her $20,000 reserve. She has had 14 starts for eight wins, including the Group Three Cuddle Stakes (1600m) and J Swap Sprint (1400m), and has now earned $199,700.

Vendor	The Oaks Stud
Purchaser	Mr DC Ellis (Te Akau)
Breeding	Fastnet Rock – Asavant
Sale	Lot 50, 2017 Premier Sale, $210,000
Bred by	Mr W Calder & Mrs K N Calder