Champion sprinter Imperatriz has been paid the ultimate compliment with her inclusion in the 2025 draft of inductees to the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame.

The winner of 10 Group One races in a total of 19 wins from 26 starts and stakes of almost A$7 million, her accolades already included New Zealand Horse of the Year, Australian Sprinter of the Year, and when at the peak of her powers, being rated the world’s best sprinter and best racemare.

As the winner of six Australian Group One sprints and the standout amongst her champion sire I Am Invincible’s 100-plus stakes winners, Imperatriz was always going to be hot property when she was put on the market at the end of her racing career last May.

However, few would have predicted the outcome when new Australian powerhouse Yulong outbid an international bench at a Southern Hemisphere mare record A$6.6 million.

“We’re so proud that Imperatriz will be joining another of our champion racemares, Melody Belle, in the Hall of Fame,” commented Te Akau principal David Ellis, a recently announced Hall of Fame inductee himself and the signatory when Imperatriz was knocked down for A$360,000 at the 2020 Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale.

“She achieved something that no other New Zealand-trained horse has been able to do – win six Group One races against the very sprinters in Australia. That’s quite incredible when you think about it and sets her apart as a very special horse.”

Imperatriz was bred in Australia by Malaysian Dato Yap Kim San’s Raffles Dancer (NZ) Pty Ltd and was reared at Bhima Thoroughbreds in the Hunter Valley, where she was prepared for sale as a yearling.

As one of the annual intake of Te Akau purchases put up for syndication amongst existing and new clientele, the big brown filly didn’t immediately capture the attention of potential suitors and was in fact the last to be fully syndicated.

“It’s unbelievable to think that you could still have bought a share in her so late,” says Karyn Fenton-Ellis, who managed the Te Akau Invincible Empress Racing Partnership and in fact took a share in the future champion.

Imperatriz was initially trained by Te Akau incumbent Jamie Richards, for whom she won on debut at Otaki in late November and her only other start at two years, the Gr. 2 Eclipse Stakes at Ellerslie. She didn’t race again until a month into her three-year-old season, winning the Gr. 3 Northland Breeders’ Stales at Ruakaka, followed by a third placing in the Gold Trail Stakes, career win

four in the Gr. 3 Soliloquy Stakes and fourth place as favourite to stablemates The Perfect Pink, Shepherd’s Delight and Belle En Rouge in the Gr. 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas.

The still-maturing filly resumed in late summer, when a first-up second was followed by four consecutive wins, the last two of them autumn Group Ones at 1600m in the Levin Classic and New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes.

Between those two races she had a change of trainer resulting from Jamie Richards’ departure for Hong Kong and Mark Walker’s return from Singapore. Walker was fully versed on Imperatriz when he resumed his original role at Te Akau’s Matamata stables.

“I still remember when I first saw her at the Gold Coast Sale, she really struck me as a yearling we should be buying. When I told Dave and he came with me to inspect her at Bhima’s boxes, he could see exactly what I liked about her and it was great that we were able to buy her.

“Part of our system when I was in Singapore was to talk regularly with Jamie back in Matamata and work through the team, planning things and discussing the various stable members. So by the time I got back to New Zealand when Imperatriz was a late three-year-old, I had a pretty good handle on her.”

The Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Te Rapa in April 2022 was the only time that Walker saddled up Imperatriz at three. She resumed in early spring with wins over 1100m at Ruakaka and the Foxbridge Plate over 1200m at Te Rapa, but after finishing out of the placings in the Tarzino Trophy (1400m) and Arrowfield Plate (1600m), her compass was reset.

“She had back issues and we changed her training and diet, with a lot of her work on the treadmill and a higher protein feed formula,” Walker explained. “We also decided to keep her to shorter distances and when you look back on her record, that was definitely the right call.”

In her remaining 13 starts, Imperatriz raced only twice at 1400m – for wins in the Gr. 1 BCD Sprint at Te Rapa and Gr. 2 Westbury Classic at Pukekohe – and the other 11 were at distances from 1000 to 1300m.

The turning point in her career was the decision to test her against Australia’s best sprinters in the autumn of her four-year-old season, and although she had to settle for second to Artorius in the Gr. 1 Canterbury Stakes at Randwick, she quickly proved she was more than up to the challenge.

Sent to Melbourne where she was to set a perfect platform for Te Akau’s plans to establish a permanent presence, she signed off her season with victory in the Gr. 1 William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley and added a hat-trick of big sprints at the same venue in the spring.

That set her up for the biggest test of her career, the Gr. 1 Champions Sprint down the Flemington straight six on the final day of Melbourne Cup week. This was the race that Walker and her regular rider Opie Bosson describe as defining Imperatriz.

“Going into that race we really felt the pressure,” Bosson recalls. “She was unbeatable at Moonee Valley, the way she would quicken off the bend, but down the straight at Flemington was a whole different challenge.

“She was up for it though, she beat them all fair and square, and for Mark, me and everyone it was massive.”

Bosson, who announced his retirement recently with a tally of 99 Group One wins, speaks from the heart when he describes Imperatriz as the horse that inspired his battle with weight and

one that when the decision was made to retire her five-year-old season, left him knowing there would be no other to compare.

“She was the best, you could put her in the right spot and she would switch off, then when you asked her she would change legs and kick with that incredible turn of foot. There was no better feeling to ride a horse that could do that.”

*The 2025 NZ Racing Hall of Fame Induction Dinner is scheduled for Sunday May 11 at SkyCity, Hamilton. For further information and tickets go to www.racinghalloffame.co.nz