Ombre Rose Wins Third Leg of NZB Southern Filly Series
24 April 2006
The third leg of the New Zealand Bloodstock Southern Filly of the Year Series was claimed by Ombre Rose at Riccarton on Saturday, in a�well fought finish with current Series leader, Smitten Kitten.
Ombre Rose (O'Reilly x Lady Chanele) put her first points on the board for trainer Shane Marr and owners Mrs�M House and R & S Murtha, with a half length win in the $30,000 Listed�New Zealand Bloodstock Airfreight Stakes (1600m). This was the fifth win from six starts for the talented filly, and her second Listed win following success in the South Island Breeders' Stakes earlier in the month.�
Smitten Kitten's (Volksraad x Vanderbilt) second placing and extra three points means she hangs on to her current lead on the Southern Filly of the Year points table, with one race in the Series to go and another seven points up for grabs for the winner of the New Zealand Bloodstock Warstep Stakes on 6 May.
Bred by Roberts Holdings Ltd and trained by Jan Hay, Smitten Kitten was a NZ$40,000 purchase by part-owner Kevin Hickman at the Karaka Select Sale. This year Hickman also purchased the filly's half brother by Van Nistelrooy at the Karaka Select Sale, for NZ$90,000.
Two and a half lengths behind in third place was Condore (Desert Fox x Anzam Dam), part-owned and trained by Peter & Dawn Williams.� The filly was a NZ$3,500 yearling purchase by Trevor McKee from the Karaka Festival Sale.
The current Southern Filly of the Year points table is as follows:
| Points | |
|---|---|
| Smitten Kitten | 11 |
| Shikoba | 7 |
| Ombre Rose | 7 |
| Noi | 3 |
| Mystical | 3 |
| Condore | 1 |
| Miss Benro | 1 |
The feature event at�Canterbury, the Group 3 Easter Christchurch Casino Easter Cup (1600m), was won by a nose by New Zealand Bloodstock graduate, Coup Entrepreneur (Entrepreneur x Chamela), for prominent South Island owner, Ray Coupland. Purchased for NZ$42,000 and now trained by Peter & Dawn Williams, this was the eighth win for the�five year old gelding.