NZ Derby record another accolade in James’s stellar career

Racing abounds with parallels and comparisons, but amongst them all Roger James is not buying into one in particular – lining up his six New Zealand Derby winners against each other.
Last Saturday James and his Kingsclere Stables partner Robert Wellwood produced the win that everyone had predicted when Orchestral waltzed away with the $1 million Trackside NZ Derby.
It was as impressive a win as any witnessed in the Ellerslie classic, the first for Wellwood in a training career that began in 2018 and for James a record sixth in a sequence dating back to 1986 when another filly, Tidal Light, took the honours.
Back then James was the understudy to renowned horseman Jim Gibbs, having graduated from stable foreman to training partner in 1982. James’s working life began in banking in his North Canterbury hometown of Amberley, but having experienced equine competition in showjumping, his hankering for something similar.
Thus he moved to the Waikato, initially to work for horse-breaker/educators Kit and Genevieve Davison and then to Gibbs. There’s perhaps no coincidence that like James, Wellwood came to racing via showjumping. His was a rather different route after gaining a degree in business management at University of Waikato, when he supplemented his studies with trackwork riding at Cambridge.
Kingsclere Stables was established by James in 1987, initially in Matamata before relocating to Cambridge, and Wellwood is now in his sixth season training in partnership. Beginning with the Group One winners he trained with Gibbs as well as his years in partnership with Lance Noble, James can take credit for 23 individual winners of 34 Group One races.
His New Zealand Derby sextet, completed by Roysyn (1995), Zonda (1997), Hades (1999) and Silent Achiever in 2012, is complemented by the likes of outstanding filly Foxwood, top stayer Cronus, Queensland classic winners Giovanna and Pinarello, and last season’s standout filly Prowess. There were genuine favourites too, such as his first major winner as a stand-alone trainer, Tethys.
Like any trainer worth their salt, James has huge admiration for the people without whom he would not have a career – the owners they train for. By his own admission he’s been blessed by individuals who have provided the wherewithal to stock Kingsclere with quality bloodstock.
High on that list are Taupiri couple Colin and Helen Litt, who for the past several years have not been afraid to stump up significant capital at the Karaka yearling sales. One of the first was Savabeel filly, who cost $270,000 in 2017 and was a Listed winner at three years.
Their $375,000 Karaka 2020 purchase, Pierro filly Achieve, was stakes-placed several times at three along with two wins, and has maintained hopes with placings in both her races in February that she may yet live up to her potential.
The Litts’ enthusiasm went up another notch at Karaka two years ago when they commissioned the Kingsclere team to buy one of the blue-bloods in the catalogue, the Barneswood Farm-bred Savabeel-Symphonic filly now known as Orchestral.
Her $625,000 price tag has since been fully justified by a record of five wins from eight starts, stake-earnings of more than $1.5 million and a value well beyond that.
“Yes, I have been very fortunate over the years to have had the support of so many wonderful people,” says James. “Colin and Helen are typical of them, they’ve been prepared to put up the money in the hope of success, and it’s so satisfying when that happens.”
The Litts bought another two quality fillies at Karaka in January, the Proisir-Fairygem at $360,000 and the Almanzor-Rosa Carolina at $220,00, both from the Elsdon Park draft.
James is less forthcoming on the matter of comparing his good horses, and in the context of last Saturday’s jaw-dropping performance by Orchestral, his six Derby winners. “No, I don’t think I need to, all of them are special individuals,” he says succinctly.
“This filly is obviously top class, she’s so unflappable, everything she does is so professional. She’s having a week in the paddock and we haven’t confirmed exact plans for the remainder of the season, but the Vinery Stakes in Sydney is the most likely target and perhaps the (ATC) Oaks after that.”
One of the keenest sideline observers of the Derby Day action was Hall of Fame trainer Jim Gibbs, who had an obvious connection to James as well as to several other key players on the Ellerslie card. Lance Noble, who also got his start as a training partner at Shannon Lodge, saddled up Jaarffi to win the inaugural $350,000 Rangitoto Classic, while former stable apprentice Darryn Weatherley – now training in partnership with his daughter Briar – produced Maria Farina to win the Gr. 3 Haunui Farm King’s Plate with son Sam in the saddle.
The Gibbs legacy also includes Michael Coleman, one of only eight jockeys to ride 2,000 winners in New Zealand and the standout amongst the 30-odd apprentice jockeys mentored by the master horseman. Now retired from riding, these days Coleman is mainly involved in racing as a jockey manager, with his list headed by Craig Grylls, whose Derby win on Orchestral was his third in the past six editions of the Ellerslie classic, and Weatherley.
“I still get a kick out of seeing people who started with me all those years ago still having success,” 85-year-old Gibbs told RaceForm, “and Saturday was special for so many reasons.”