Kris Lees had to persuade Damien Oliver to ride Group 1 Queensland Oaks winner Amokura

When he couldn’t get Hugh Bowman, Kris Lees saved a fortune on airfares when he combined with Damien Oliver to win the Group 1 Queensland Oaks.

Amokura claims the Group 1 Queensland Oaks after a superb steer from Damien Oliver. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography

Kris Lees reckons it’s the best $400 he’s spent.

The Newcastle trainer pulled off a masterful training performance in Saturday’s Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2200m) when he combined with the legendary Damien Oliver to win with six-start veteran Amokura.

In a stunning rise to fame, Amokura went from Newcastle maiden winner six weeks ago, to Group 1 winner two starts later thanks to a rail-hugging ride from Oliver who made every post a winner.

Following her nine-length Class 1 win at the Sunshine Coast on a Sunday last month, Lees was on the hunt for an Oaks jockey, originally pleading with Hong Kong-based Hugh Bowman to make the trip back to Australia, before eventually settling on Oliver.

While Bowman’s flights back from Hong Kong attracted a big price tag, Oliver’s return flights from Melbourne proved a shrewd move, with Lees turning $400 into $420,000 for connections.

AMOKURA AND DAMIEN OLIVER WIN THE GROUP 1 QUEENSLAND OAKS👏👏👏@Leesracingpic.twitter.com/vPmQ6EVYN6

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) June 3, 2023

“Hugh was too tight to fly back, Ollie was the cheaper option,” Lees laughed post-race.

“He was $400, the other bloke (Bowman) was $4000.

“He took a bit of convincing to come up here, but here we are, what a great result.”

It is Oliver’s first Group 1 in Queensland since 2014 when he won the Stradbroke Handicap aboard roughie River Lad.

It marked Lees’ second Queensland Oaks win, coming 18 years after Vitesse Dane won with Bowman on board.

Sent out a well-backed $8 chance, Oliver sat as quiet as a church mouse aboard Amokura before picking all the right gaps close to the fence.

“They can come from nowhere in an Oaks,” Lees said.

“It is her first prep so we were always guarded about how far we could go with her. She put the writing on the wall with a big win in Newcastle, so we brought her up with the view of trying to sneak her in with a bit of prizemoney.

Amokura dashes clear to win the Queensland Oaks. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography

“She snuck in, we got Ollie to come up and ride and the rest is history … She tracked up beautifully on the corner and it was a matter of getting some clear air.

“Drawing barrier one, she was in the barriers a long time and then she stepped slowly, I was thinking she might have come to the end of things, but through the run I could see her picking up.”

Returning jockey Martin Harley almost pulled off a fairytale, holding on to run second aboard $101 chance Reo after hitting the front early in the straight.

The Irishman, returning off a broken neck he suffered in January, admits he was daring to dream, but knew he was in trouble when he could hear the ominous sound of Oliver tracking his every move.

“I knew 200m out that Ollie was coming, I quietly fancied this horse all week since I rode her work on Tuesday,” Harley said.

“(Trainer) Richard (Lamming) didn’t think she’d stay, but after I rode her, I said ‘she will stay’ because she relaxed so well.

“I thought it was going to be a dream come true there for a while.”

Lees said Amokura will head for a spell before making any further plans with the rising four-year-old.

Originally published as Kris Lees had to persuade Damien Oliver to ride Group 1 Queensland Oaks winner Amokura