Volpe Veloce
Race Images Palmerston North
Unbeaten filly Volpe Veloce has filled a hole in Graham Richardson's bank account.
The Matamata trainer loved the filly as a type, but he did not have any owners signed up when he paid $240,000 for the yearling by first-season sire Foxwedge at Karaka in January, 2015.
Volpe Veloce has yet to be seriously threatened in four race day starts and she is a readymade favourite for the Gr.3 Lawnmaster Eulogy Stakes at Awapuni on Saturday.
"I hope everything goes well for the horse, if only for the owners," Richardson said. "They have put a lot of faith in me.
"I didn't have an owner at the time and it took 12 to 13 months to sell her. It was a long time, but that's what the game is all about. Sometimes you have to have a go."
Richardson recalled coming home after seeing Volpe Veloce before the sale and telling his wife, Rochelle, that they had to own the filly.
"But you run a fine line," he said. "It's hard to survive and if you buy one yearling too many it can send you broke. But you can also go broke if you buy too few and don't have the horses in the stable."
Not everything went Volpe Veloce's way in the spring, with plans to contest the Gr.1 NZ 1000 Guineas abandoned after wet tracks interrupted her lead-up programme, but when she has got to the races she has done the job in style.
She has won each of her starts by at least two lengths and comfortably won an age group contest with 57.5kg at Tauranga at her last start.
"She has thrived since. We couldn't be happier with her," Richardson said.
Johnathan Parkes has ridden Volpe Veloce in her last three starts and is able to stick with the filly this weekend.
Plans for Volpe Veloce beyond the Eulogy are uncertain, but provided she races well, there is a chance she will not run again until the Gr.1 Randwick Meats Levin Classic at Trentham on January 14. - NZ Racing Desk.
The Matamata trainer loved the filly as a type, but he did not have any owners signed up when he paid $240,000 for the yearling by first-season sire Foxwedge at Karaka in January, 2015.
Volpe Veloce has yet to be seriously threatened in four race day starts and she is a readymade favourite for the Gr.3 Lawnmaster Eulogy Stakes at Awapuni on Saturday.
"I hope everything goes well for the horse, if only for the owners," Richardson said. "They have put a lot of faith in me.
"I didn't have an owner at the time and it took 12 to 13 months to sell her. It was a long time, but that's what the game is all about. Sometimes you have to have a go."
Richardson recalled coming home after seeing Volpe Veloce before the sale and telling his wife, Rochelle, that they had to own the filly.
"But you run a fine line," he said. "It's hard to survive and if you buy one yearling too many it can send you broke. But you can also go broke if you buy too few and don't have the horses in the stable."
Not everything went Volpe Veloce's way in the spring, with plans to contest the Gr.1 NZ 1000 Guineas abandoned after wet tracks interrupted her lead-up programme, but when she has got to the races she has done the job in style.
She has won each of her starts by at least two lengths and comfortably won an age group contest with 57.5kg at Tauranga at her last start.
"She has thrived since. We couldn't be happier with her," Richardson said.
Johnathan Parkes has ridden Volpe Veloce in her last three starts and is able to stick with the filly this weekend.
Plans for Volpe Veloce beyond the Eulogy are uncertain, but provided she races well, there is a chance she will not run again until the Gr.1 Randwick Meats Levin Classic at Trentham on January 14. - NZ Racing Desk.
