Ritchie aiming for fourth New Zealand Oaks crown

AUCKLAND – The NZ$1 million (S$757,000) Group 1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2,400m) may have a new home, but Cambridge horseman Shaune Ritchie is hoping his strong record in the race continues as he seeks his fourth title in the race on Feb 21.

To be run at Ellerslie for the first time this weekend, the New Zealand Oaks was previously contested at Trentham where Ritchie won three editions of the fillies’ classic with Keep The Peace (2010), Artistic (2012) and Jennifer Eccles (2020).

Ritchie, and training partner Colm Murray, will be represented in the 2026 edition by The Oaks Stud’s Tajana and, while pleased with his filly, history tells him she will have her work cut out for her this weekend.

“It’s a race that we like to target with our fillies and we have got a filly who is going to be in the thick end of things on Saturday,” said Ritchie.

“We’ve had horses going into the race in the past who looked the dominant filly and the dominant filly generally wins the Oaks.

“That’s why it’s such a good race because it usually throws up the best filly. Unfortunately, Ohope Wins looks the dominant filly.

“Having said that, this filly’s demeanour and temperament is probably better than any of those other fillies we’ve won with – Keep The Peace, Jennifer Eccles and Artistic.

“All of them had to mellow a little bit to run the trip out and we had to tweak their training in some way, whereas this filly just trains herself. She’s got a wonderful demeanour and a lovely nature.

“It’s rare in any race to step a horse up over ground and put blinkers on, but that’s our faith in how well she will settle. Obviously, we won’t be able to drive her out of the gates with the blinkers on.

“She’s probably going to settle in the back half of the field. If that’s so, she’ll attack the line strong.”

Following her unplaced run in the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1,600m) at Riccarton on Nov 15, 2025, Ritchie said they gave her an intentionally light lead into the Oaks, with just the two runs, including a third in the Group 2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies Classic (2,100m) at Te Rapa earlier on Feb 7, and he said she is thriving ahead of Saturday’s 2,400m test.

“When we came back from Christchurch, we deliberately missed the Ellerslie carnival with this Oaks in mind,” he said.

“I don’t think we’ll get her in any better order – she looks fantastic. She will peak on Saturday.

“She’s certainly not going into the race on tired legs, which is a major plus. In the past, we’ve had fillies that have dominated the series from the beginning who’ve won this race.

“We’ve looked for ways to freshen them up and in this case, we’ve just been able to keep the foot gently on the pedal all the way through.”

Ritchie is also looking forward to lining up last-start Group 3 Aotearoa Classic (1,600m) winner Tuxedo in the NZ$600,000 Group 1 Sport Nation Otaki Maori WFA Classic (1,600m).

It will be the four-year-old gelding’s third tilt at weight-for-age, following unplaced runs in the Group 1 Proisir Plate (1,400m) and Group 1 Howden Insurance Mile (1,600m) last spring, and while Ritchie believes Tuxedo is a horse for the future, he is looking forward to seeing how he measures up against his seasoned opposition this weekend.

“There will be no negative from his performance last time – he’ll produce the same performance. It’s hard to say he has improved again but I’m sure he’ill put up the same effort,” said Ritchie.

“The issue of course is going from four-year-olds, and I think they’re a strong bunch of four-year-olds, to weight-for-age level.

“In the spring we just fell short, not by much, but we feel he’s a little stronger on his autumn form and we’re hoping that will cover it. He was a little bit unlucky in his weight-for-age runs but I don’t think he would’ve won either, even with even luck.

“We’re dealing with a bit of a strong animal and there’s a lot of respect for our weight-for-age horses over the last couple of years.

“Then you’ve got the likes of Waitak and El Vencedor who seem evergreen horses, but it’s hard to imagine there’s any improvement in them.

“We see him as a weight-for-age star for the next couple of years, but whether he’s up to those hardened warriors right now, I guess we’ll find out on Saturday.”

The stable will also be represented by Mahrajaan and Nereus in the Group 3 Eagle Technology Avondale Cup (2,400m), with the former bidding to win back his Group 2 Auckland Cup (3,200m) crown in March, having won the two-mile feature in 2024.

“I just don’t think Mahrajaan gets warm until he gets to the two miles,” said Ritchie. “We’re waiting to put the blinkers on him in the Auckland Cup, so that will be his peak performance. We’re expecting him to go super in that race, but he’s likely to be uncompetitive.

“Nereus is the forgotten horse a bit, I think he’s overs. His last run at Ellerslie he ran El Vencedor and Mary Shan very close and his last start at weight-for-age, he had the second-fastest last 200m of the race.” LOVERACING.NZ