The top two fillies on the NZB Filly of the Year Series leaderboard will both be among the many stars stepping out at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, but they will be in different races.
The 10-race card features the sixth leg of the NZB Filly of the Year Series, the Group Two Hallmark Stud Eight Carat Classic (1600m). The quality line-up for that $270,000 feature is headed by Lollapalooza (NZ) (El Roca), who sits in second place on the table with 16 points.
She is 4 points behind the benchmark filly Well Written (Written Tycoon), who is unbeaten in three starts and earned 20 points with her runaway victories in the Group Two Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) and Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m). However, those are likely to be her only two appearances in the NZB Filly of the Year Series. Well Written’s Boxing Day assignment is the Group Two Jimmy Schick Shaw’s Auckland Guineas (1400m), which is a stepping stone towards the $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) and the $4m NZB Kiwi (1500m).
Well Written’s absence could leave an opening for Lollapalooza to reclaim the NZB Filly of the Year Series lead, which she previously held after winning the series-opening Group Three Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) back in September. She has gone on to compete in three of the four legs since then, finishing second in the Group Three Sunline Vase (1400m), fifth in the Soliloquy Stakes and second in the 1000 Guineas.
Or perhaps the Eight Carat Classic could be a breakout moment for a new star of the three-year-old filly crop. Circus Dancer (NZ) (Circus Maximus) and Pulsatilla (NZ) (Redwood) both come into the race as last-start Listed winners of the O’Learys Fillies’ Stakes (1340m) and Trevor & Corallie Eagle Memorial (1500m) respectively, Savvy Donna (NZ) (Savabeel) was an eye-catching fourth in the Soliloquy Stakes two starts back, and many others in the field have been highly impressive recent winners in lower grades.
The winner of the Eight Carat Classic will earn 8 points in the NZB Filly of the Year Series, with 4 for second and 2 for third.
The Hallmark Stud Eight Carat Classic will be run as Race 7 on an exceptional Boxing Day card at Ellerslie on Friday, with a scheduled start time of 4.18pm.
