BIRCHLEY'S TWO-PRONGED KARAKA MILLIONS ATTACK

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Queensland based trainer Liam Birchley knows what it takes to win the Karaka Millions Two-Year-Old, a race which will be contested for the nineteenth time at Ellerslie in New Zealand on Saturday.

Birchley, whose special rapport with two-year-olds has been acknowledged over many years, has form in the Karaka Millions, having twice won the race … firstly with Sister Havana in 2010 and then with Hardline in 2015.
This year Birchley brings a two-pronged attack into the Karaka Millions fray in the form of two fillies … Dream Roca (a NZ$75 000 purchase) and Vanzadee (a NZ$26 000 purchase).

“They are two really nice, precocious fillies,” Birchley told Trackside NZ.

“Obviously to win the race you need to get luck on the day, but first you just need to have the right horse to get into the field.

“You need to qualify, so you need an early running, sound two-year-old. As I say, a fair bit of luck goes with that, but that is the formula.”

The trip from Queensland to New Zealand did not go particularly smoothly for the Birchley trained duo though, adding a few anxious moments to the pre-race plan, but all ended well.

“We had to travel from Brisbane to Sydney for a day … and give them a day off,” explained Birchley. “We were then supposed to fly out the following night. The plane got cancelled, so then we just treadmilled them to give them a bit of a workout while they were waiting.

“The following night they arrived at three-thirty. They went straight to Ellerslie. We got the swab boxes ready to give them a rest for a few hours … then off they went and had a gallop on the grass … then they were on a truck down to Cambridge and luckily they got a break then.

One (Dream Roca) has drawn barrier number one. She is in good form. She should get all of the favours,” continued Birchley, “so I’d have to put her as one of the leading chances, I think.

“She is unknown in the wet, but the breed handles it well.

“The other filly (Vanzadee) is level-pegging with her, but barriers are very important from that start. I am well aware of that.” Vanzadee has drawn barrier twelve.

The unbeaten Kinnaird is the race favourite with Torture, the Ben, Will and JD Hayes trained runner, currently on the second line of betting.