Four Australian Group Performers Among NZB Filly of the Year Cast of 2025-26

The NZB Filly of the Year Series has a proud history of putting high-class fillies on a path towards bigger and better things, and this season’s crop has lived right up to that reputation.

Among the fillies that contested the 11 prestigious Group races that made up the series this season, there have been two subsequent Group One winners in Sydney, a Group Three winner in Adelaide and a black-type placegetter in Queensland.

At the top of the list is the 2025-26 NZB Filly of the Year, Ohope Wins (NZ) (Ocean Park). The Lance O’Sulivan and Andrew Scott-trained star strung together consecutive wins in the Group Two Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m), Group Two David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2100m) and Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m) to take the title with 28 points, eight points clear of her nearest rival.

Yulong Investments, who bought Ohope Wins during that winning sequence, later transferred her across the Tasman and into the care of champion expat New Zealand trainer Chris Waller. In her second Australian start, Ohope Wins triumphed in the A$1m Group One Australian Oaks (2400m). She became only the fourth filly to complete the New Zealand-Australian Oaks double, following on from Domino (NZ) (Grosvenor) in 1990, Bonneval (NZ) (Makfi) in 2017 and Pennyweka (NZ) (Satono Aladdin) in 2023.

The other Sydney Group One winner from the NZB Filly of the Year Series this season is Belle Cheval (NZ) (Savabeel), whose only appearance in the series produced a third placing in the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) that earned her 3.5 points.

Belle Cheval won the Group Three Almanzor Trophy (1200m) and Group Three Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m) in her next two starts, then finished second in a photo finish to the $4m NZB Kiwi (1500m). Trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson sent her to Sydney for a one-race mission to close out her season, and she duly delivered with victory in the A$750,000 Group One Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill for prominent owner David Archer, who races her with his wife Diane and children Simon Archer and Natalie Micarone.

Fringes (NZ) (Niagara), bred and raced by renowned photographer Trish Dunell, showed early promise in New Zealand with a debut victory on Boxing Day before finishing ninth in the Group Two Lowland Stakes (2100m). She was later sent to the South Australian stable of Michael Hickmott, for whom she won the A$170,000 Group Three SA Fillies’ Classic (2500m) at Morphettville on May 9.

The other Australian black-type performer to have come out of the NZB Filly of the Year Series this season is Single Red (NZ) (Vanbrugh). The Andrew Forsman-trained filly earned 7.5 points from her second in the Group Two David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2100m) and third in the Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m). She went on to campaign in Queensland, where she finished second in the A$160,000 Listed Gold Coast Bracelet (1800m) and fourth in the A$300,000 Group Two Doomben Roses (2000m) before being unplaced from a wide gate in the Group One Queensland Oaks (2200m).

All of these black-type Australian results have come within a three-month period this autumn and early winter, which bodes well for further success heading into the 2026-27 season. Perhaps the most exciting prospect to come out of the NZB Filly of the Year Series will be the undefeated Well Written (Written Tycoon), who is likely to make her Australian debut in the spring.

Well Written finished second on the NZB Filly of the Year Series points table with 20 points, which she earned with dominant spring successes in the Group Two Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) and Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m).

But it was through the rest of the summer that the Stephen Marsh-trained star really made her name, beating the very best of New Zealand’s three-year-olds in the Group Two Auckland Guineas (1400m), by six lengths in a scintillating $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m), and in a season-crowning triumph in the $4m NZB Kiwi (1500m). Well Written’s six-start, six-win career has banked more than $2.6m in prize-money, and her four-year-old campaign is eagerly awaited on both sides of the Tasman. Like Ohope Wins, she was bought by Yulong during the current season and races in their internationally renowned green and white colours.

Another NZB Filly of the Year Series graduate to watch next season is yet another from the Yulong team, Autumn Glory (NZ) (Ocean Park). The Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained runner earned 7 points with her second placing in the Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m), and she later came up against male three-year-olds and was again runner-up in the Group One New Zealand Derby (2400m). She will do her future racing out of the Cranbourne stable of Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr.

Attention will also shift to the 2026-27 edition of the NZB Filly of the Year Series, which will kick off with the running of the Group Three Sunline Vase (1200m) at Ellerslie on September 5.