Pins Quinella in First Leg of NZB Filly of the Year Series

The prestigious New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series kicked off for the 2016-17 season with the $70,000 Group 3 Hawke’s Bay Breeders Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) at Hastings today, and Waikato Stud stallion Pins was to the fore with a quinella.

First points went the way of Honey Rider (NZ) (Pins) from the powerful Cambridge stable of Murry Baker and Andrew Forsman, while the fast-finishing runner-up was the Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott-trained Glass Slipper (NZ) (Pins).

The race changed complexion when the unbeaten favourite Volpe Veloce (Foxwedge) was late-scratched after becoming fractious in the starting gate. It was Honey Rider, who ran second to Volpe Veloce in the Castletown Stakes last start, who capitalised on that filly’s absence.

Ridden by Michael Coleman, Honey Rider raced midfield before surging to the lead in the straight. Glass Slipper, Mystery Show (NZ) (Sakhee’s Soldier) and Bella Gioia (NZ) (Swiss Ace) charged down the outside, but Honey Rider lifted and held on well to win by three-quarters of a length.

“She really showed nice fight,” Coleman said. “She’s a filly who’s always given me a very nice field, right back to when I won on her on debut here at Hastings in the autumn.”

Honey Rider has now had three starts for two wins and a second, earning $58,125 for owner-breeders Charlie Whyte and Andrew Lockyer who are Hawke’s Bay locals and were on course for the win.

“The owners are great guys to train for, they leave it all up to us and let us do the job,” Forsman said. “We were very confident coming into today, although my confidence dropped in the last 10 minutes before the race when she broke out in a sweat. I wondered if she was a bit too fresh. But she got away with it and got the job done. She’s a high-class galloper.

“The favourite coming out of the race certainly helped our cause. That was very unlucky for Graham Richardson’s stable, she’s classy and looked like she was ready to run well today. But our horse is classy in her own right as well.”

Honey Rider is out of the Align mare Southern Heights (NZ), who is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Adventador (NZ) (Fast ‘N’ Famous) and stakes winners Winning Glory (NZ) (One Cool Cat) and Alpine Delight (NZ) (Bluebird). Melbourne Cup winner Viewed (Scenic) descends from the third dam Mount Tryst (NZ) (Sir Tristram).

Today’s win gave Honey Rider an early lead in the NZB Filly of the Year Series with 6 points. Glass Slipper’s second placing earned her 3 points, while the third-placed Mystery Show picked up 1.5 points.

The second leg of the Series is the Group 1 gavelhouse.com 1000 Guineas at Riccarton on November 12, a race which is now squarely in Honey Rider’s sights.

“She’ll probably have another run somewhere, but the main thing now is to get her down to Riccarton in the best order we can,” Forsman said.