Justa Tad Cements Win In Fillies' Series

Justa Tad (Istidaad x Infinity) proved herself the country's top filly when winning the Group 1 Smokefree New Zealand Oaks at Trentham on Saturday. The $300,000 race was the third to last leg of the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series.

Despite a respectable placing in the New Zealand Bloodstock Royal Stakes (2000m) earlier this month some doubts were raised about how the filly would handle the distance in the Oaks.

However, she settled early in the race and jockey, Vinny Colgan urged her on in the straight and she produced an explosive sprint to win the race by a convincing three quarters of a length.

Graeme Sanders & Debbie Sweeney trained Prize Lady ran an impressive race for second and Sahara Flight finished third.

The win added 12 points to Justa Tad's total in the Filly of the Year series. With two races left in the series she now sits on an unbeatable 42 points. Her nearest rival is La Sizeranne with 20 points.

The current points table for the series is:

The next race in the series is the 2000m Cambridge Stud Sir Tristram Fillies Classic held at Te Rapa on 12 February.

Earlier in the day at Trentham New Zealand Bloodstock graduate Wahid (Almutawakel x Rory's Helen) won the Group 2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes over 1200m. The win comes in the lead up to the country's richest two-year-old event, the $500,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Classique. All horse sold through the New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sales are eligible to enter the event held at Te Rapa on 5 February.

Finally, sales graduate Keeninsky (Keeninsky x So Keen) won the Group 1 ING Life Telegraph Stakes giving New Zealand Bloodstock a fantastic Group race treble for the meeting. The horse was last season's champion two year old and there are now tentative plans for an Australian campaign.