Daffodil Springs to Series Lead
10 November 2008
The Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas (1600m) run at Riccarton on Saturday saw the Waikato Stud filly Daffodil shoot straight to the top of the New Zealand Bloodstock's Filly of the Year Series leaderboard.
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Daffodil winner of the NZB 1000 Guineas. |
The Kevin Gray-trained Daffodil was well positioned by Hayden Tinsley, racing one back on the fence for most of the journey. Into the home straight Tinsley's patience paid dividends as he angled Daffodil into the clear running as John Wheeler's Juice (Bertolini) burst to the lead with 200m to go. As soon as Daffodil saw daylight she accelerated impressively and sent Juice into second place. Awesome Planet (Giant's Causeway) ran on well to grab third on the post from La Etoile (Thorn Park) who battled on bravely after leading for most of the race.
The well named Daffodil is out of Spring (O'Reilly) and was bred by Mark Chittick and Chris Turner.
Spring shared the same racetrack potential as her daughter, with two smart victories early on in her three-year-old career assuring herself a trip to Christchurch to contest the NZ 1000 Guineas in 2001 where she finished sixth. In her next start, the 2001 Group 1 Levin Classic Spring broke down 50m from the finish line. Chittick was on hand and decided against the filly being destroyed immediately; instead taking her to Massey University where x-rays revealed the filly had fractured not only her fetlock joint but her cannon bone too.
After persevering through six weeks of treatment, including two sets of snapped titanium screws, and a year in the paddock alone at Waikato Stud, Spring was finally able join their high-class broodmare band, and has rewarded the Chittick family with their first Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas win.
Daffodil now leads the Series with 15 points ahead of Juice on 11 points, with the next installation, the Group 3 Ezibuy Eulogy Stakes (1600m) to be run at Awapuni on 13 December.