Ritchie trains team at Ruakaka

Notable New Zealand trainer Shaune Ritchie recently moved his team of 12 horses to the newly commissioned covered yarding complex at Ruakaka Race Course.
Whangarei Racing Club recently undertook the project of developing the complex to assist and attract longer term visiting trainers to the area.
For Ritchie, wife Alison and 2-year-old daughter Delta, home is usually the central Waikato town of Cambridge. A seasoned traveller to Australia and an avid supporter of the New Zealand Cup week held at Riccarton Race Course in November of each year, Ritchie believes in the benefits of working horses on the beach and in stress-free environments.
As a teenager Ritchie worked as strapper for his father - the well-known NZ trainer Frank Ritchie who trained the crowd favourite Bonecrusher.
Ritchie recalled strapping Bonecrusher as a 16-year-old before that famous race, the 1986 Cox Plate and said it was his most memorable occasion in racing.
His memory is still vivid of the spectacle in the birdcage when the two Kiwi horses crossed the line together, some believing it was a dead heat, so close was the finish. Bonecrusher was declared the winner with another great New Zealand horse Waverley Star in second place in what would be written into the history books as "the race of the century".
Bonecrusher went on to make history over again, becoming the first New Zealand thoroughbred horse to win a million dollars.
The now 40-something Ritchie trains his own team of high achievers.
The move from Cambridge to Ruakaka for a few weeks of the midwinter months is one he has made before.
This year the team is made up of some extraordinary talent.
Firstly there's the 5-year-old bay mare Keep the Peace, winner of last year's $200,000 Mudgway Partsworld Stakes that secured third places in the two other legs of the triple crown at Hawke's Bay, with stakes of $200,000 and $250,000 apiece.
This year she has seldom been out of the money with her last win being at Otaki in February, where she took out the Haunui Farm Group One WFA Classic.
Although nominated for the triple crown series in Hawke's Bay, her main aim will be the best of the mares' series in Melbourne, culminating in the Group 1 event on Derby Day in Victoria.
A New Yorker recently purchased the mare for breeding purposes and at this stage she will need to be impressive at her next starts to warrant the trip across the ditch.
Tomorrow , Keep the Peace will hit out over 1200m in an exhibition gallop with stablemate Roi D'Jeu, a 6-year-old gelding whom from 21 starts, has seven wins and has been stakes placed on nine other occasions.
Another stablemate, My Scotsgrey, and the locally owned Showcause, trained by Frank Ritchie, will also give a galloping display tomorrow.
Both horses are previous winners of the NZ Cup.
These exhibition gallops will be held between the races at Ruakaka tomorrow afternoon.
With so much talent in his hands we asked trainer Shaune Ritchie why he was here.
His view is simple: "When racing at elite level there can be a 2-5 per cent difference between coming first or eighth. Getting that extra 2-5 per cent out of your horse is the all-important factor."
Ruakaka, in his view, has the best training facility at this time of the year - he has absolutely no doubt about that.
The advantages of training here through the winter months include climatic conditions, having a better overnight low than anywhere else in the country, a stress-free environment, the horses just love it, the sand track for work, the beach including the therapeutic opportunities from being able to walk those equine athletes in the soothing salt water, and a track with such a great surface that speed work can also be achieved, he said.
All 12 of his charges have been in work at their home base in Cambridge and are now ready to lift their speed work up a notch. When they leave Ruakaka next week to return to home base they will have a short break before hitting out on each of their individual missions.
And as for Bonecrusher, he is still very much adored and cared for at the home of his owner, Peter Mitchell, in Takanini.