Ortem Fires into Southern Filly Series Lead

A determined performance from Ortem Fire (NZ) has seen the filly take the lead in New Zealand Bloodstock's Southern Filly of the Year Series with a strong victory in the $50,000 Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Stakes (1600m) at Riccarton on Saturday.

The third race of the four-race Series for three-year-old fillies, the New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Stakes saw a capacity field contest the fillies feature in an effort to gain the valuable Series points on offer.

In a compact field, the Brian & Shane Anderton trained Ortem Fire (Gallant Guru x Emerald Fire) raced just off the pace with jockey Jay Misbah in the saddle and managed to hold off the late finishing Asavant (Zabeel) after racing clear to take her first stakes victory by half-a-head.

Ortem Fire came into the race with 3 Series points after running the closest of seconds in the second leg of the Series, the Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Airfreight Stakes (1400m) at Wingatui at her last start.

With Saturday's victory awarding Ortem Fire 7 points, the daughter of Gallant Guru now takes the Series lead with 10 points, three clear of her nearest rivals Kasumi and Cora Lynn who have 7 points each.

Bred by Brian and Lorraine Anderton, Ortem Fire is the first stakes winner for her sire, the Group 2 Sandown Classic winner Gallant Guru (Montjeu), who stands at the Anderton's White Robe Lodge in Dunedin.

Raced by the Progressive Syndicate, Metro Syndicate, B Shaw, P McDonald, S Blair, E Hornbrook & B Reid, Ortem Fire has now won three of her 10 starts for just shy of $60,000 in stakes.

Second-placed Asavant (ex Pins 'N' Needles) ran a huge race, coming into the mile contest after contesting the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at her last start. She has placed in six of her 12 career starts for her trainers John & Karen Parsons and claims 3 points in the Series with Saturday's run.

Running into third place was Are You Devious (Captain Rio x Gold Amber) for trainer Stephen Marsh. The lightly raced filly came into the Listed contest with just seven career starts and ran on well in the final stages to claim 1 point in the Series.

To view the current points table for New Zealand Bloodstock's Southern Filly of the Year Series, click here.

The fourth and final leg of the New Zealand Bloodstock Southern Filly of the Year Series, the $50,000 Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Warstep Stakes (2000m), will be held at Riccarton this weekend.