Imperatriz (3 f I Am Invincible – Berimbau by Shamardal)
Trainer: Jamie Richards
Race: New Zealand 1000 Guineas, Riccarton
The ultra-talented Jamie Richards-trained Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) will bid for a first Group 1 win as she tackles the New Zealand 1000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Riccarton today.
Champion trainer in New Zealand, Richards is gunning for his 50th elite-level win in a career that has only just hit the six-year mark.
Having first won the contest with Risque (Darci Brahma) when training in partnership with Stephen Autridge, Richards saddled Kahma Lass, also by Darci Brahma (Danehill), to win the race last year.
The trainer will saddle five runners in this year’s feature event for three-year-old fillies, but it’s the current $3.40 market leader Imperatriz who is perhaps the most appealing of the quartet.
Bred by Raffles Dancers, the daughter of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) was a $360,000 purchase by Te Akau Stud Principal David Ellis from the Bhima Thoroughbreds draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2020.
Imperatriz is the second foal out of Godolphin-bred mare Berimbau (Shamardal), who herself is the second foal out of Percussive (Encosta De Lago), a half-sister to Todman Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Royal Courtship (Royal Academy).
With four wins from five starts in her career to date, including the Eclipse Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) as a two-year-old, while she landed the Northland Breeders Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) first-up this preparation and was last seen winning the Soliloquy Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) on her most recent start. The filly, whose only defeat came second-up this season when she ran third in the Gold Trail Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m), looks to have the perfect profile to add a first elite win to her record this afternoon
Her closest challenge may come from the Tony Pike-trained There You Go (Niagara) ($4.60) who has won her last two, including the Barneswood Farm Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m).
Danielle Johnson is set to take the ride and despite the wide barrier 16 the filly looks a strong chance to follow-up her stablemate Noverre’s (Savabeel) victory in last week’s New Zealand 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) in the female’s equivalent today.