Eleonora (NZ) Shows Class in Sunline Vase

Saturday’s $70,000 Group 3 McKee Family Sunline Vase (2100m) at Ellerslie will be the one and only appearance in the 2016-17 New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series for Eleonora (NZ) (Makfi), but she made a lasting impression with a tough win.

Ridden by Danielle Johnson for trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, she moved into a handy position just behind the leader as the field crossed the finish line with a lap to go. That was where she stayed until the point of the home turn, where she loomed on the outside and went forward to take the lead.

Challengers lined up across the track to have a shot at her down the home straight, but Eleonora held firm and refused to let any of them get past. She dug deep and kept fighting all the way to the line, pushing her margin back out to three-quarters of a length at the finish line.

“The other horses came at her and she just dug really deep,” Johnson said admiringly. “That was a tough win.”

A granddaughter of the champion race-mare Ethereal, Eleonora has now had 10 starts for three wins, six placings and more than $270,000 in prize-money. This was her second stakes win, having claimed the Group 3 Ethereal Stakes at Caulfield in the spring.

She will now head to Sydney to contest the Group 1 Vinery Stakes (2000m) and Australian Oaks (2400m).

Saturday’s win earned Eleonora 6 points in the Filly of the Year Series, slotting her into equal eighth place on the points table. Runner-up Dreamcrafter (NZ) (Mastercraftsman) picked up her first 3 points of the Series, with the third-placed Dame Margo Fonteyn (NZ) (High Chaparral) also being added to the table with 1.5 points.

Bonneval (NZ) (Makfi) heads the table with 15.5 points, with La Diosa (NZ) (So You Think) on 14 and Volpe Veloce (Foxwedge) 12. The latter pair are unlikely to play any further part in the Series.

The Series has just one more leg to come – the $300,000 Group 1 Wellfield New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham on March 18. That race carries 12 points for first, 7 for second and 3.5 for third.