Ridden back off a strong speed, Tuxedo weaved a path through the middle of the field and lunged at Hinekaha late, just when his fellow Cambridge 4-year-old looked home.
“That is what we hoped would happen with the blinkers, make him concentrate and get it right,” Ritchie said.
“He worked good in them last week so we thought we had a chance and putting Opie on did the rest.
“They are a great bunch of owners, so good for racing, so this is a magic result.”
Tuxedo could now head to the Ōtaki-Māori Mile next month, then possibly the Bonecrusher NZ Stakes, also at Ellerslie on March 7.
If Ritchie was to win that race, it would be one of the most appropriate Group Ones in the history of New Zealand racing, as Ritchie was the teenage strapper for iconic racehorse Bonecrusher during his storied career.
On the subject of Ellerslie features to come, the picture for New Zealand’s richest race – the $4m NZB Kiwi – became even more interesting when Belle Cheval destroyed her rivals in the $250,000 Cambridge Stud Almanzor Trophy.
The Walker/Bergerson-trained filly was only signed to the NZB Kiwi slot owned by The King’s Men syndicate on Friday and was straight into $8 fourth-favouritism for the March 7 slot race after her dynamic win.
She sat midfield on the fence but exploded when clear for international jockey Craig Williams, who was suitably impressed.
“She is already a very good filly, who is only going to keep getting better,” Williams said.
Earlier at the twilight meeting, expat Kiwi jockey Logan Bates won at his very first Ellerslie ride when Moschino upset the favourites in the HKJC World Pool Jo Giles Stakes.
With no speed in the middle stages of the 1400m event, it was left to Moschino and Imprevu to drag-race up the straight and Bates got the best out of the Margaret Falconer-trained mare.
Bates is originally from the South Island, where both his parents were jockeys, including the current queen of the southern riding ranks, Kylie Williams, who was riding at the meeting and so was able to cheer her son on.
Bates now rides with great success in Victoria.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.