Filly of the Year Series to be decided at Trentham

Media Release
10 March 2008

Filly of the Year Series to be decided at Trentham

Saturday’s $400,000 Group One Gillies Group New Zealand Oaks at Trentham will decide the prestigious New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series.

New Zealand’s very best three year old fillies have had the opportunity across the series of ten races that began back in September at Hawkes Bay to accumulate points awarded for wins and placings in each race.

The New Zealand Filly of the Year Series is keenly contested. As well as carrying valuable prizes, the ultimate winner immediately becomes a highly valuable breeding proposition. Previous winners of the Filly of the Year Series title include last year’s $2m Kelt Capital Stakes winner Princess Coup.

The Wellington Racing Club’s Gillies Group New Zealand Oaks is the final race in the Filly of the Year series. With prizemoney of $400,000 the Oaks is the richest in the ten race series, which boasts total stakes of $1.46 million.

With impressive victories in the Group Three Lowland Stakes at Trentham on March 1st and the Waikato Racing Club’s Group Two Sir Tristram Classic at her last two starts the Roger James trained filly Kaatoon has into been catapulted into favouritism for the Oaks this Saturday.

Kaatton (21 points) only has to finish in the first three placings in the Oaks to earn enough points to snatch the Filly of the Year title off Series leader Insouciant, who currently leads the series with 22 points.

The only other challenger is Pretty Vegas, who finished just behind Kaatoon in the Lowland Stakes. With 10.5 points in the series Pretty Vegas could also claim the title by winning the Oaks, which carries 12 points for the winner, however Kaatoon only needs to finish second or third next Saturday to claim the title..

Insouciant established a big early points lead in the Series with wins in the Group One New Zealand One Thousand Guineas at Riccarton in November and the Ezibuy Eulogy Stakes at Manawatu in December. Insouciant failed in the Lowland Stakes at Trentham and has subsequently been withdrawn from the Oaks, leaving the way clear for Kaatoon to claim final race in the series.

The Cambridge trained Kaatoon was bred and is raced by former Wellington Racing Club President Ron Dixon in partnership with Auckland Racing Director Peter Walker.

ENDS

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