Dijon Bleu (NZ) Extends Series Lead

Top filly Dijon Bleu (NZ) (Burgundy) added to her lead in the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series with a runaway win in Saturday’s $70,000 Group 3 Metroclad-Terracade Desert Gold Stakes (1200m) at Trentham.

The Lisa Latta-trained filly has topped the table throughout the Series. She won the first leg, the Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m), then placed in the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and Group 3 Eulogy Stakes (1550m) to boost her tally to 16.

She missed the next two legs, the Group 2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m) and Royal Stakes (2000m), but maintained her lead heading into Saturday, where she picked up another 6 points to move to 22.

“She’s done really well – she thrives on these short breaks that we’re giving her,” said Latta, who won this race in 2015 with the Filly of the Year Platinum Witness (California Dane).

A number of her rivals in Saturday’s field had been impressive recent winners in lower grades and were expected to pose a threat, but Dijon Bleu cruised around in midfield and burst to the lead in the straight to score by three lengths.

“She gets her head up high and she’s not very big, but she’s a star,” jockey Leith Innes said.

Bought for just $26,000 as a yearling at Karaka, Dijon Bleu has now won five of her 10 starts and more than $244,000 in prize-money.

Landsdowne Park will offer a half-brother by Proisir (Lot 497) at Karaka Book 1 later this month.

The placegetters in the Desert Gold were Blanco Belle (NZ) (Cape Blanco) and Milseain (NZ) (Tavistock), who joined the table with 3 and 1.5 points respectively.

The next leg of the Series is the $100,000 Group 2 Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic (2000m) at Te Rapa on February 10, which is likely to be Dijon Bleu’s next target.