The festive season marks a pivotal point in the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series, with two of the 10 legs taking place at Ellerslie within the space of a week – each one worth 8 points to the winner.
First up is Thursday’s $100,000 Group Two SkyCity Eight Carat Classic (1600m), which in recent years has been won by eventual Filly of the Year winners Katie Lee (Pins), Planet Rock (Fastnet Rock), Fix (NZ) (Iffraaj) and Queen of Diamonds (NZ) (Savabeel).
This year’s field is headed by Jennifer Eccles (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle), who sits in second place on the leaderboard with 7 points.
Although she is still a maiden, Jennifer Eccles has placed in three stakes races, starting with a third in last season’s Listed Auckland Futurity Stakes (1400m).
She began her Filly of the Year Series campaign with a fourth in the first leg, the Group Three Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) at Hastings, behind Aretha (NZ) (Charm Spirit), Bavella (Snitzel) and the current table-topper Loire (NZ) (Redoute’s Choice).
After a third in the Group Three Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), Jennifer Eccles stepped up to Group One level and charged home for a close second in the gavelhouse.com New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), just a long neck behind Loire.
Jennifer Eccles trails Loire by 6.5 points in the Filly of the Year Series race, and she will move to the top of the table if she can win the Eight Carat Classic. Champion Sydney-based Kiwi jockey James McDonald takes the ride.
The field also features last-start Listed winner Two Illicit (NZ) (Jimmy Choux), plus stakes placegetters Showoroses (NZ) (Showcasing), Manchu (Redoute’s Choice), Familia (NZ) (Makfi), Showbeel (NZ) (Savabeel), Aalaalune (NZ) (Reliable Man) and Tears of Jupiter (Zoustar).
Manchu features on the Filly of the Year table with 3 points, while Showbeel has 1.5.
Along with the 8 points available to the winner, the runner-up in the Eight Carat Classic will earn 4 points and the third placegetter will collect 2 points.
The SkyCity Eight Carat Classic will be run as Race 7 on Thursday with a start time of 4:05pm.
