NINE TIME GROUP 1 WINNING MARE RETIRED

By Graham Potter | Monday, September 20, 2021

The nine-time Group 1 winner Avantage has been retired.

The decision came on the eve of her scheduled participation in the Tarzino Trophy at Hastings at the weekend after an examination which diagnosed she had suffered a tendon injury.

The Jamie Richards trained mare retires as a winner of sixteen of her twenty-seven starts (with eight minor placings).

She had really hit her straps this year winning five out of her six starts in 2021 and finishing second to the great Melody Belle in her only defeat.

Her honour roll includes victories in the Karaka Million, the Group 1 Sires Produce, the Group 1 Telegraph (where she did the double), the Group 1 Haunui, the Group 1 Bonecrusher, the Group 1 Railway and the Group 1 thoroughbred Breeders.

All but one of Avantage’s wins came in New Zealand, but, with limited opportunity, she also had a win on Australian soil to her credit claiming the Group 3 birthday Card Stakes at Rosehill.

"It is a real shame to lose her from the stable and we had had no indications, she was perfectly sound during her gallop on Thursday morning," Richards told the New Zealand Herald.

"She is a wonderful mare who had so many great wins it is hard to pinpoint one, but maybe the Karaka Million was her most exciting.

"She will be sold as a broodmare prospect, being a syndicate horse, and is obviously worth a fortune."

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