Molly Bloom (NZ) Extends NZB Filly of the Year Lead

Saturday’s $175,000 Group Two David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2000m) at Te Rapa was the eighth leg of the 2023-24 NZB Filly of the Year Series, and it marked the third win of the series for dominant filly Molly Bloom (NZ) (Ace High).

Bought for $150,000 from Seaton Park’s Book 1 draft at Karaka 2022, Molly Bloom has now won four of her eight career starts and earned $566,800. She has already earned 28 points, which is more than the winning final total in the 2022-23 Filly of the Year Series.

Molly Bloom was a spectacular come-from-behind winner of the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) in November, and she added the Group Two Eight Carat Classic (1600m) on Boxing Day in similarly impressive style. Her winning sequence was interrupted by an unlucky seventh in last month’s $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m), but on Saturday she stepped up to 2000m and returned to her winning groove.

Ridden by Joe Doyle, Molly Bloom found a comfortable spot in sixth and one off the rail. She began to move closer to the leaders coming down the side of the track, then quickened brilliantly at the top of the straight to throw down the gauntlet to the front-running Harlow Rocks (NZ) (Roc De Cambes). That rival refused to give up her lead without a fight, but Molly Bloom slowly but surely gained the upper hand and won by three-quarters of a length.

“I’m delighted and so grateful to the connections for putting me on,” Doyle said. “She’s an exceptional filly, and these are the types of horses you want to ride. She has bags of class and ability.

“She was the class act in the race today. We got a very smooth run, and then I switched her to the outside and she took off. She probably got there a little bit early, but when you’re on class horses like these you don’t want to run the risk of getting stuck behind horses. She was too strong in the end.”

Molly Bloom is trained by Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, who bought her under their Wexford Stables banner at Karaka 2022. But the syndicate of owners was this week joined by a newcomer in the form of prominent Australian owner Ozzie Kheir.

“This is a great result for Ozzie, who’s been very keen on this filly since day one,” O’Sullivan said. “I’m thrilled for him. There’s always a bit of pressure in the first race after making a purchase like that, so for her to win the way she did is fantastic. It’s great for her previous owners as well, who have retained a 50 percent share.

“And we’re just delighted to win this race. We’ve known David Ellis and Karyn Fenton-Ellis for a long time now, so it’s certainly a special race to win.”

Runner-up Harlow Rocks collected her first 4 points of the NZB Filly of the Year Series, while third-placed Livid Sky (NZ) (Proisir) earned 2 points to double her series tally to 4.

The next leg of the Filly of the Year Series will be the $120,000 Group Two Little Avondale Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Hastings on March 1.