Filly Of The Year Victory For Vapour Trail

After ten exciting races the 2001-2002 New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year title has been won by outstanding filly Vapour Trail. Vapour Trail (Jetball x Devil's Lair) has topped the Filly of the Year table with 34 points. Blackrock College (Volksraad x Marscade) was second with 26 points and Final Destination (O'Reilly x Logical Lady) third with 12 points. Last season's title winner, Singalong, finished with 28 points.

Starting back in September, the 2001 – 2002 Filly of the Year series kicked off at the Hawkes Bay Racing Club with Flying Babe winning the Gr.3 Highview Stakes from the John Wheeler trained Blackrock College. Blackrock College went on to win the next two races, the Gr.3 Faltaat Lowland Stakes and the Gr.3 Desert Gold Stakes placing her well in the lead on the points table.

The fifth race in the series saw the biggest rival for Blackrock College hit the track. Vapour Trail, trained by Donna Logan, started her successful innings in grand style by winning the Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. The Jetball filly then went on to run an unlucky second behind Dreamworks in the Gr.2 Auckland International Airport Royal Stakes at the Auckland Racing Club meeting on 2 January.

Two further wins were in store for the talented Vapour Trail, including the most coveted and arguably the real measure of the best staying filly, the Gr.1 Armstrong Jones New Zealand Oaks, which took her to the lead on the points table with 24 points over Blackrock College with 22 points.

The Gr.2 Cambridge Stud Sir Tristram Fillies Classic at Te Rapa in February was set to be an exciting race with the top two fillies going head to head. Vapour Trail was once again the victor over Blackrock College, with Venus Was Her Name in third place. Vapour Trail became one of the rare few fillies to capture the Oaks/Sir Tristram Fillies Classic double.

It was after this win that Vapour Trail clearly had a good lead on her closest rival. Going into the final race in the series, the only way Vapour Trail could possibly be ousted from the title would be with a victory to Blackrock College and Vapour Trail finishing unplaced. Blackrock College scratched from the race and in keeping with her outstanding and consistent form all season, Vapour Trail ran a gallant third, beaten a neck, a neck, behind Sixty Seconds and Venus Was Her Name, on track conditions not really to her liking

Vapour Trail finished the series with an impressive tally of 34 points to be the clear winner of the 2001-2002 New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year title. Vapour Trail was bred by Peter and Philip Vela and is raced by Bruce Sherwin. Her victory marks the second title win in 3 years for Peter and Philip Vela, who also bred and raced the 1999-2000 Filly of the Year, Sarwatch.

The Vela brothers kindly donated a free lease of the filly as a prize to the Whangarei Racing Club, which was won by a very lucky Sherwin. Donna Logan also generously donated her training services free of charge.

The final points table for the 2001-2002 series is as follows:

Horse Points
Vapour Trail 34
Blackrock College 26
Final Destination 12
Venus Was Her Name 9.5
Dreamworks 8
Sixty Seconds 8
Damaschino 7.5
Elfonze 7.5
Sursum Corda 7
Flying Babe 6
Monterey Bay 6
Moon Magic 3.5
Singing Star 3
Zirna 2
Caramel Queen 1.5
Kapiston 1.5

Points for the 2001-2002 Series were awarded as follows:
Group 1: First – 12 points, Second – 7 points, Third – 3.5 points
Group 2: First – 8 points, Second 4 points, Third – 2 points
Group 3: First 6 points, Second 3 points, Third 1.5 points

The New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year is a series of Group Races from 1200 meters to 2400 meters and is specifically for three year old fillies. The series is strongly contested each year and has an attractive prize pool for filly owners, trainers and bree