Valuable Filly Series Points on Offer in Eulogy

The fourth leg of the prestigious New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series will take place this Saturday with the running of the Group 3 $70,000 Ezibuy Eulogy Stakes (1600m) at Awapuni.

With a field of 14 fillies set to contest the feature race on the card, many will be making their debut in the Filly of the Year Series.

With current Series leaders Rollout the Carpet (15), Waterford (8.5) and Pure Elegance (6) not contesting the race, the Group 3 provides an exciting opportunity for others to earn some valuable Series points.

Five of the fillies assembled on Saturday have already met in the Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas and for some Saturday’s Group 3 will be a chance to find their previous form after some hard luck stories at Riccarton.

Fourth on the leaderboard with four Series points to her name, Misstrum (Stratum) returns north after having no luck in the NZB 1000 Guineas at Riccarton.  Her win in the Listed Soliloquy Stakes at the end of September provides a much better representation of her form where she beat race rival Ray’s Girl (Savabeel).

Sporting the number one saddle cloth is Soriano (Savabeel) who was a fast-finishing sixth to Rollout the Carpet in the NZB 1000 Guineas. Since then she put in another huge performance coming from last on the corner in the Group 1 Levin Classic to only be beaten by half-a-length and a nose.

Another filly coming out of the Group 1 Levin Classic is High Fashion (O’Reilly) who had no luck in the running, being late clearing traffic when coming from well back in the field. Her Copperbelt Lodge trainer Kevin Gray also has Lovetessa (O’Reilly) in the event who, after a game run from back in the field in the NZB 1000 Guineas, is looking to secure her previous form which saw her win two races impressively in succession back in September.

The South Island will only be represented by one filly, Emerald Queen, who is another daughter of O’Reilly.  She was a fast-finishing fifth in the NZB 1000 Guineas and looks to be a good chance of giving Shane Kennedy and Anna Furlong their first win in the race.

Ray’s Girl, who carries the colours of Group 1 New Zealand Oaks winner and 2005 Filly of the Year Justa Tad, ran second behind Misstrum in the Soliloquy Stakes but returns from Riccarton after not having everything her own way in the NZB 1000 Guineas and her lead up form gives a much better indication of her chances.  

Savabeel’s third runner is the lightly tried Desert Star, a daughter of the smart Southern filly Dazzling Belle. She is one of many fillies that will be entering black-type company for the first time and has a nice barrier to assist her chances.

Coming into the race off the back of consecutive victories is Miss Enders (Not a Single Doubt) who won her maiden stylishly two starts ago and continued that form when winning at Awapuni at her last appearance.

Angel’s Share (Cecconi), If I Can I Can (Iffraaj) and La Vitesse (Darci Brahma) have all had just a handful of starts and all cleared maiden company well at their last outing. Hi Yo Soo (Spartacus) and Calypso (Pentire) make up the field, with the lightly tried Calypso winning on debut before running third at her last start at Avondale.

The winner of the Group 3 Ezibuy Eulogy Stakes will receive 6 points in New Zealand Bloodstock’s Filly of the Year Series, with second receiving 3 points and third 1.5 points. The race will be held at Awapuni on Saturday at 3:56pm NZ time. 

Click here for the up-to-date Filly of the Year Series points table.