Epee Beel Surges into NZB Southern Filly Series Lead

Consistent filly Epee Beel (Epaulette) broke through for a well-deserved first stakes win in Saturday’s Listed $80,000 NZB Insurance Stakes (1600m) at Riccarton, and in the process she moved into a clear lead in the 2023-24 NZB Southern Filly of the Year Series.

Epee Beel was bought for $80,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2022. She has now had 13 starts for two wins and five placings, earning $88,540. The 7 points she collected with Saturday’s victory lifted her up to 9, which gives her a 2-point lead over the previous leaders Drakaina (NZ) (Ace High) and Viva Vienna (NZ) (All Too Hard).

The Michael and Matthew Pitman-trained Epee Beel was a maiden winner at Timaru in the spring, and since then she has recorded two second placings along with a third in the Listed Gore Guineas (1335m), fourth in the Listed Dunedin Guineas (1500m) and third in last month’s Listed NZB Airfreight Stakes (1400m).

Epee Beel relished the step up to 1600m on Saturday and was unfazed by the testing rain-affected track. After sitting in second on the outside of the front-running Caffeinated (NZ) (Belardo), she kicked strongly at the top of the straight to take command.

Nepheti (NZ) (Charm Spirit) made up plenty of ground out wider on the track, with Quintabelle (NZ) (Embellish) fighting hard along the rail, but Epee Beel dug deep in between that pair and held on for a tenacious win by three-quarters of a length.

“She’s a very nice filly who we bought her off gavelhouse.com for $5000,” said Michael Pitman, who also registered his 2000th career victory with Saturday’s win.

“We didn’t have any owners for her, but I had people come in to form a syndicate who have really supported me over the years, so to get this result today is very satisfying for a number of reasons.

“It takes a good horse to do what she has today, and the manner in which she did it, and we can’t wait to see her go over further.”

Pitman confirmed that Epee Beel will now back up for next Saturday’s NZB Southern Filly Series finale, the $80,000 Listed NZB Warstep Stakes (2000m).

“We will line her up next week in the Warstep Stakes and I think she will be even stronger over 2000 metres,” he said.

Saturday’s placegetters Nepheti and Quintabelle earned their first points of the NZB Southern Filly Series, joining the table with 4 points and 2 points respectively.