Filly Series Heating Up
11 February 2008
The result of Saturday's $150,000 Group 2 Cambridge Stud Sir Tristram Fillies Classic (2000m) at Te Rapa has ensured an exciting climax to the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series.
Taking home the spoils was the deserved winner, Kaatoon (Kaapstad x Toonsie by Affirmed) who gunned down pacemaker Insouciant (Keeper x Loudenne by Palace Music) to win by one-and-a-half-lengths. Trained by Roger James, she was bred and is raced in partnership by Peter Walker and Ron Dixon.
Stakes-placed until Saturday, the win was Kaatoon's�second from just six starts which includes seconds in the Group 2 NZB Royal Stakes at Ellerslie and the Group 3 Desert Gold Stakes at Trentham. �She is a full-sister to Walker's talented galloper, Black Panther, who was second in the Group 2 ARC Great Northern Guineas and the Group 2 ARC Championship Stakes before winning twice in Australia from the Lee Freedman stable.
Kaatoon is the 45th stakes-winner for her sire, Windsor Park Stud's Kaapstad (Sir Tristram x Eight Carat). During his racing career Kaapstad won the Group 1 VRC Sires' Produce Stakes and was second in the Group 1 South Australian Derby.
Insouciant was courageous in defeat after leading throughout the race. Her four points for second see her strengthen her lead in the Filly of the Year Series to 22, five points from her nearest rival, Keepa Cruisin (Keeper x Just Cruising by Broad Reach) who is unlikely to contest the rest of the Series.
Kaatoon shot up to fourth place with 15 points to sit just one behind Satinka (Stravinsky x Miss Saigon by Kings Island).
Third placegetter Pretty Vegas earned two more points and now sits in sixth spot with 7.5 points.
The next race in the Series is the Group 3 Devan Plastics Lowland Stakes (2100m) on Saturday 1 March at Trentham. The Series culminates in the Group 1 Gillies Group New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham on Saturday 15 March.