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Avantage lands seventh Group 1

3 minute read

Jamie Richards-trained Fastnet Rock mare takes out the BCD Sprint

FASTNET ROCK.
FASTNET ROCK. Picture: Coolmore Australia.

The 539074 Avantage (5 m Fastnet Rock - Asavant by Zabeel) added a seventh Group 1 to her record when she took out the Waikato Sprint (Gr 1, 1400m) at Te Rapa on Saturday. 

The Group 1 had been touted to be a match-race between the daughter of Fastnet Rock (Danehill) and Levante (Proisir), but she put paid to her chances very early on in the contest when she missed the start by eight lengths, leaving an open goal for Avantage. 

Ridden by Opie Bosson, Avantage took the lead at the top of the straight and scooted clear of her rivals to beat Callsign Mav (Atlante) by three and a half lengths, while Mascarpone (Shooting To Win) was another nose away in third. 

“We wanted to ride her aggressively today, put her forward and if Levante was five lengths off us, she would have trouble picking us up,” he said.

“She is just a gutsy racehorse as you can ride her back, ride her forward and it doesn’t matter as she is just a gun.

“She is very similar to Melody Belle and she has now won seven group Ones and there is more in store for her.”

Trainer Jamie Richards, who prepares the mare for the Te Akau Avantage Syndicate, has his eyes on an Australian prize later in this current campaign.

“You never like to see what happened at the start because as racing enthusiasts you want to see it pan out on an even-playing field,” Richards said.

“Unfortunately, that’s how it goes sometimes and Avantage was able to put herself up in a good position and had them in trouble a long way from home.

“She is getting better now as she can put herself up in a race, which she couldn’t do before.

“She is just getting more professional each time and her big group of owners are having the ride of a lifetime.

“We’ll take a couple of days to think about things but there is the Group 1 at Otaki at the end of the month.

“I really do believe she has a Group 1 win in Australia in her and I would like to give her that opportunity.”

The daughter of Fastnet Rock (Danehill) was purchased for NZ$210,000 at the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Karka and she is out of Listed winner Asavant (Zabeel). 

Asavant herself is a daughter of Group 3 winner Pins ‘N’ Needles (Pins), making her a half-sister to Group 1 winner D B Pin (Darci Brahma). 

Avantage is one of 21 Group 1 winners and 167 stakes winners overall for Coolmore Stud-based for champion sire Fastnet Rock. 


Racing and Sports

Te Rapa

Saturday, 13th February 2021

6
15:05
(local)

Bcd Group Sprint (G1)

Type: OPEN
NZD $200,000
1400m TURF GOOD
6
15:05
(local)
NZD $200,000
1400m GOOD

Bcd Group Sprint (G1)

Type: OPEN

This G1 at WFA over 1400m saw an easy win again for the Australian bred Avantage that has now won the three G1 sprints this season and is winning by more and more as the season goes by telling you the depth is not there and never has been. The 5yo mare today was handy wide early and went up second the outer and sat there a length back at the 1000m and was half a length away turning for home. She quickly led at the 350m and then cleared out to win by three and a half lengths in the slick time of 1:20.87, the fourth fastest time ever behind Mrs. Select (9 wins and she ran 1:20.60 in 1992) then the Courier Bay (17 wins (four at G1) and ran 1:20.83 in 1987) and Sacred Star (9 wins (twice at G1) and ran 1:20.81 in 2015). The winners and where they came from on the home turn were led (on the fence and a length clear), fourth (four-off the inside and two and a half lengths from the leader), led (one-off the inside and a neck in front), sixth (five-off the inside and three lengths from the leader), fifth (six-off the inside and four lengths from the leader), second (two-off the inside and half a length from the leader), third (on the fence and a length and a half from the leader), fourth (one-off the inside and three lengths from the leader) and fourth (one-off the inside and a length and a length and a half from the leader). Advantage is making a mockery of the G1 NZ form and has now had seven successes at the highest level and won fourteen of her twenty four outings. She has been to Australia four times for a win on a bog at G3 as a 3yo filly and a third at G2 the following month then ran at G3 and G2 as a 4yo and was a well beaten eight of ten and also a seventh of nine. The 5yo mare has won from 800m to 2000m and is clearly thriving in the current weak environment where field depth and meeting a range of new horses seems few and far between She second rated this mostly poor lot and her only realistic threat Levanter blew the start by six lengths so the race was all over at the jump. Second home was the 4yo male Call sign Mad that when he won his lone G1 race in the Spring of 2020 that day third home was Advantage showing the same horses keep meeting each other and the depth is more than dubious. Today he race sixth the outer then came up wide near the home turn and ran on well albeit distantly at the post. Third home was Mascarpone that finally got a draw and the 4yo male raced fifth the inner then once angled off was third at the 200m and then second at the 150m before losing that spot the last 5m. Travelling Light was fourth beaten almost six and a half lengths after racing third the inner and having every possible chance. The 4yo mare won a G1 as a 3yo filly but has looked substandard this season so far. Fifth home was the only other runner in the betting bar the winner in Levante that stood in the stalls and lost about six lengths and her chips were all in and lost immediately. The 4yo mare caught the field quickly but was still last across the top to the home turn and she ran on strongly wider out but was still beaten over seven lengths. She would have run second if away properly as the winner deadest bolted in. New York jazz was next home and fought on from eighth on settling but was beaten almost nine lengths. Gino Severini was next home a smidgen behind New York Jazz. The next trio home were beaten over nine and a quarter lengths and up to over eleven lengths while the last finisher Its Destinys Child was last beaten almost eighteen lengths. This was a poor field overall and second and third should have run third and fourth but Levante blew the start and any chance she had. Avantage has in New Zealand alone won thirteen of her twenty outings and in five other G1 starts has run four placings and a fourth showing the depth is non-existent in the current climate. The domination of female gallopers in New Zealand has been for more than this century so far and started with the late great Sunline in 1999.



FP Silk Horse, Age & Sex
Sire & Dam
Jockey
Trainer
SP
WT
1st 7. AVANTAGE (AUS) 5yo M
FASTNET ROCK (AUS) - ASAVANT (NZ)
OPIE BOSSON
JAMIE RICHARDS
$1.9
57.5kg
Te Akau Avantage Syndicate (Mgr: Kw Fenton-Ellis Mnzm)

Sales Information

2nd 1. CALLSIGN MAV (NZ) 4yo G
ATLANTE (AUS) - RAADISI (NZ)
JONATHAN RIDDELL
JOHN BARY
$11
59kg
J G G Bary, S Baster, R & S Boob, M Carney, D & N Haynes, S Kyriazis, A, B & M Nelson, A Ng, T Ongarezos, A Pearce, T Raptis, B Roubos & T Schneider

Sales Information

3rd 4. MASCARPONE (NZ) 4yo G
SHOOTING TO WIN (AUS) - FROMAGE (AUS)
RYAN ELLIOT
GRAEME & DEBBIE ROGERSON
$41
59kg
Butterworth Racing Syndicate, Nz Thoroughbred Holdings Ltd, G A Rogerson Mnzm & G R Wilson

Sales Information

4th 11. TRAVELLING LIGHT (NZ) 4yo M
EL ROCA (AUS) - CISSY BOWEN (NZ)
JOHNATHON PARKES
BEN FOOTE
$31
57kg
5th 9. LEVANTE (NZ) 4yo M
PROISIR (AUS) - ISLAND DOY (GB)
SAMANTHA COLLETT
KEN & BEV KELSO
$2.5
57kg

Sales Information

6th 5. NEW YORK JAZZ (NZ) 5yo G
NIAGARA (AUS) - SHESALLJAZZ (NZ)
JASMINE FAWCETT
JOHN & STEPHEN RALPH
$81
59kg
7th 3. GINO SEVERINI (IRE) 7yo G
FASTNET ROCK (AUS) - GREEN CASTLE (IRE)
MICHAEL MCNAB
BRUCE WALLACE & GRANT COOKSLEY
$61
59kg

Sales Information

8th 6. MANRICO (NZ) 5yo G
SHOCKING (AUS) - FLYING BABE (AUS)
TEGAN NEWMAN
JOHN & STEPHEN RALPH
$101
59kg
9th 2. JULIUS (NZ) 9yo G
SWISS ACE (AUS) - OH SO ROYAL (AUS)
CRAIG GRYLLS
JOHN BELL
$26
59kg

Sales Information

10th 8. KIWI IDA (AUS) 6yo M
SQUAMOSA (AUS) - EMPRESS IDA (AUS)
CHRIS JOHNSON
J F PARSONS
$41
57kg

Sales Information

11th 10. ITS DESTINYS CHILD (NZ) 7yo M
CASTLEDALE (IRE) - IT'S MY DESTINY (NZ)
SAM SPRATT
JENNY & BOB VANCE
$51
57kg

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