With New Zealand in Level 4 lockdown due to the latest COVID-19 outbreak, local racing is currently on hold, with Richards and his fellow racing industry colleagues having an unexpected Saturday away from a racetrack.
That left the Matamata mentor time to reflect on a more than satisfactory hit-out at the Randwick trials on Friday by star three-year-old Sword Of State and the next steps for exciting mare Entriviere who had to be scratched from her weekend assignment due to a minor foot problem.
“I thought Sword Of State went nicely yesterday and held his own in what was a hot field for an 850m trial,” Richards said.
“He did things nicely and finished alongside the Golden Slipper (Gr.1, 1200m) winner Stay Inside, although he was under a good hold.
“He is a very laid-back character and there is plenty of improvement in him, especially when we put the hood on.
“As long as he progresses well, he will have his first raceday run in the San Domenico Stakes (Gr.3, 1100m) at Kembla Grange next Saturday.”
Richards was philosophical about the circumstances that put a halt to a start for Entriviere, after she pulled up mildly lame with a hoof issue after trackwork during the week.
“The problem just popped up at the wrong time and being so close to raceday we couldn’t really give her any help with anti-inflammatories or the like,” he said.
“She probably would have been good to go tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday, but Saturday just came up a bit quick.
“It’s not ideal, but I think we will give her a trial next and then we can work out something for her after that.”
Richards also reported that his two Melbourne-based stars, multiple Group One winner Probabeel and last season’s Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) winner Kahma Lass, had both settled in well and were making good progress towards their campaign openers.
“Probabeel travelled over well and worked nicely on the grass this morning,” he said.
“She will go to the races next week at Caulfield in the Cockram Stakes (Gr.3, 1200m) while Kahma Lass has also been doing well and we will see her the week after that.”
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old has his fingers crossed New Zealand’s strict lockdown measures can stem the spread of the virus and enable at least parts of New Zealand to move down Alert levels to enable racing to re-commence.
“Like everyone else we have our ears on the news as we wait to see what happens this week,” Richards said.
“We obviously have horses like Avantage getting ready for the Foxbridge Plate (Gr.2, 1200m) meeting at Te Rapa next week and we’re hopeful racing can get back underway to allow that meeting to go ahead.
“If things change and we can’t get a start for Avantage then we will weigh up our options from there.
“We may end up heading to Australia a little earlier with her and we are discussing those scenarios, so it’s pretty important what happens over the next wee while.”
