Eight Carat Triumph Thrusts Molly Bloom (NZ) Into NZB Filly of the Year Series Lead

Molly Bloom (NZ) (Ace High) has rocketed into the lead in the 2023-24 New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series with another powerhouse performance in the $225,000 Group Two Hallmark Stud Eight Carat Classic (1600m) at Pukekohe on Boxing Day.

Molly Bloom was a $150,000 purchase by Wexford Stables from Seaton Park's Book 1 draft of Karaka 2022. She has quickly shown her star quality with six starts for three super-impressive wins and $439,050 in stakes.

Heading into the Eight Carat, Molly Bloom sat in second place in the NZB Filly of the Year Series with 12 points, which she earned with an extraordinary finish from the back of an 18-horse field in last month’s Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton. The Group Two Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) winner and 1000 Guineas runner-up Impendabelle (Impending) was narrowly ahead of her on the table with 15 points.

That all changed on Boxing Day at Pukekohe, where Molly Bloom became just the fourth filly on the last 30 years to win both the 1000 Guineas and Eight Carat Classic – joining Katie Lee (Pins) in 2009, Planet Rock (Fastnet Rock) in 2011 and Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) last year.

Molly Bloom again dropped out towards the back of the field in the Eight Carat Classic, this time behind a moderate speed set by Sandoku (NZ) (Eminent). The $1.60 favourite had only three horses behind her coming up to the home straight, while the filly seen as her biggest threat, Mary Shan (NZ) (Almanzor), was looming on the outside of the leader and cruising.

Mary Shan duly quickened in the straight and took command, but Molly Bloom’s jockey Blake Shinn sent her into overdrive and she roared up alongside her rival. Mary Shan saw her coming and fought back bravely, and the pair drew four lengths ahead of the rest of the field to fight out a stirring two-horse battle to the wire. It was Molly Bloom who found that little bit more and snatched victory by a head.

“That was a great win,” Shinn said. “I just let her fall asleep out the back and she relaxed beautifully. I ended up getting on the back of Tulsi (The Autumn Sun) from about the half-mile and she had open air from the top of the straight.

“But there were a few worrying moments – the saddle moved back a long way and I had to just nurse her from the 200-metre mark onwards. She was going to win by a length or two, but maybe the month gap between runs, along with the saddle going back impeding her momentum to really draw away from the second horse.

“I think the win had more merit. She’s a great filly. I thank the connections for asking me to come over and I'm just delighted to ride a filly of this calibre.”

Molly Bloom’s performance delighted her trainers, Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott.

“It was a good performance to come from off the speed, because there wasn’t a lot of it,” Scott said. “She had to be tough to do what she did today. We had a feeling there was further improvement in her, because she had done really well after getting back from Christchurch. She had to guts it out, and we couldn’t be more proud of her.

“She is a beautiful type with length and strength. and we had Blake on today to tell us where we might go with her. I would imagine we will be heading towards the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) now, and then we will take stock after that.”

Molly Bloom now heads the table with 20 points, which puts her five points ahead of Impendabelle. Mary Shan has moved up into third place with eight points. The Eight Carat Classic third placegetter, Grail Seeker (NZ) (Iffraaj), has joined the table with two points.

The next leg of the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series will be at the same venue just six days later, with the running of the $225,000 Group Two Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2050m) at Pukekohe on New Year’s Day.

Vendor	Seaton Park Ltd
Purchaser	Wexford Stables (Waikato)
Breeding	Ace High – Dancilla
Sale	Lot 193, Karaka 2022 Book 1, $150,000
Bred by	Seaton Park Ltd