Filly of the Year Finale

The 2004-5 New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series comes to a close this Saturday at Ellerslie when the first day of Auckland Racing Club's Autumn Carnival plays host to the Group 2 New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Championship Stakes for three-year-old fillies.

In the penultimate leg of the Series, the Group 2 Cambridge Stud Sir Tristram Fillies Classic, Tusker (Volksraad x Stella Artois) ran away with the prize. The Murray Baker trained filly has excellent form and with a handy two barrier draw she will be a likely favourite for this weekend's race.

Danex (Danasinga x Balm) also performed well in the Fillies Classic, finishing third. The filly's run in the Championship Stakes will be the first stakes race for the new Mike & Paul Moroney training partnership.

The well related Pentire filly Gemstone (Pentire x Gemscay) is also one to watch. The sister to Group 1 winning mare Penny Gem had won three on end prior to a respectable fourth in the Fillies Classic at Te Rapa.

Current Series leader Justa Tad (Istidaad x Infinity), who has already amassed enough points to secure her an overall win in the Series, will not contest the New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Championship Stakes but will race at Ellerslie on Saturday in the Great Northern Guineas. The dual Group 1 winning filly has not started since her tremendous Oaks win in January but trainer Rudy Leifting has been very happy with her trackwork over the past week.

The current points standing going into Saturday's race is:

For more information about the Filly of the Year Series contact New Zealand Bloodstock (www.nzb.co.nz, Ph: 09 298 0055)