Lucy Leaps into Second on NZB Filly of the Year Leaderboard

Saturday’s $275,000 Group Two David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2000m) at Te Rapa delivered a third win in the NZB Filly of the Year Series for standout filly Leica Lucy (NZ) (Derryn), who has leapfrogged her way into second on the leaderboard.

Previously the winner of the Group Three Eulogy Stakes (1600m) and Group Three Desert Gold Stakes (1600m), Leica Lucy now has 20 points to her name. That puts her just one point behind Alabama Lass (Alabama Express), who is not expected to feature in the remainder of the series.

Leica Lucy’s dominant Eulogy and Desert Gold performances earned her hot favouritism on Saturday at $1.30, but her victory was not without its nervous moments. After enjoying a comfortable run in fourth along the rail, she found herself badly blocked coming around the home turn and was shut out of a gap inside the final 250 metres.

Jockey Craig Grylls was eventually able to angle his mount into the clear, and Leica Lucy produced a turn of foot that none of her rivals could match. She powered past Top Shelf (NZ) (Savabeel) and into a clear lead, opening up a winning margin of a length and three-quarters.

“With a horse like her, when you’re not going to be leading, there’s always that danger when you draw inside,” Grylls said. “The ones in front of you start stopping, while others start to improve around the outside of you. I just had to wait for a way through.

“Once she got a gap, she probably won even more easily than she did last time. I didn’t have to go for her with the stick. She’s really extended through the line strongly. Going up to 2000 metres for the first time today, her turn of foot was probably even better than last time. She’s very exciting.”

Leica Lucy has now had five starts for four wins and a second, earning $353,010 in stakes. She is trained by Robbie Patterson for her owner-breeders Heather and Peter Crofskey, who were joined in the ownership by prominent Australian investor Ozzie Kheir earlier in the week.

Kheir did the same thing last year with eventual NZB Filly of the Year winner Molly Bloom (NZ) (Ace High), buying a share of the ownership days out from her victory in the Fillies’ Classic at Te Rapa.

“That was a hard watch today,” Patterson said. “I could see that it was going to happen too, when Michael McNab was on our outside on Top Shelf. He’s a very good rider and he was going to make things tough. But she just showed her quality.

“There was a lot of pressure on before this race, obviously with the sale and Ozzie joining in. He’s been fantastic, and Pete and Heather are great friends and good owners. So there was a lot of pressure going into this, and halfway up the straight it was going all wrong and pear-shaped and I was worried. But, hey, I’ve got a class rider and a class filly. I had complete confidence that she would win today, although there’s a lot of pressure when they’re paying $1.30 in a Group Two.

“I’ve just got so much confidence in the horse. I’ve never had a horse that gives me this much confidence. Everything she does is just so professional. She’s just great.”

With Alabama Lass and Leica Lucy in the top two spots, the remainder of the NZB Filly of the Year table sees Captured By Love (Written Tycoon) in third with 15 points, followed by Real Class (NZ) (Vadamos) with 10, Hitabell (NZ) (Embellish) with 8, and Connello (NZ) (Time Test) with 6, while Bella Montagna (NZ) (Belardo), Kitty Flash (NZ) (Ace High), Sethito (NZ) (Super Seth) and Top Shelf all have 4. Seven other fillies have totals between 1.5 and 3.5 points, including Saturday’s third placegetter Myakkabelle (NZ) (War Decree) with 2 points.

The three remaining legs in the NZB Filly of the Year Series are the $150,000 Group Two Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Trentham on March 2, the $250,000 Group Three Sunline Vase (2100m) at Ellerslie on March 8, and the $1m Group One Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham on March 22.

The Lowland and Oaks are firmly on Leica Lucy’s radar.

“She’ll go back to Trentham, where she loves the big, roomy track,” Patterson said. “It’s three weeks from today into the Lowland, and another three weeks into the Oaks. After that, she’ll go across to Chris Waller. Chris is going to get a lovely filly and I’m just so rapt for the owners.”