Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas on Cup Day

The third-leg of the 2009/10 New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series, the Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas (1600m), is set to take place at Riccarton on Saturday.

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�2008 Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas winner Daffodil with connections

Staged for the first time on New Zealand Cup day, a week later than usual, the 2009 running of the Group 1 $300,000 event is expected to again prove vital in the Filly of the Year Series with 12 points on offer for the winner, seven for second, and three and a half for third place.

Three of the past five Filly of the Year crowns have been passed to the winner of NZB 1000 Guineas (Daffodil (2008/09), Insouciant (2008/09) and Just a Tad (2004/05) and in 2009 a full field of 18 aspirants hope to follow the same path.

Top of the book, and top of the current $200,000 Karaka 3YO Mile Ratings, is last weekend's Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas winner Katie Lee (Pins x Miss Jessie Jay, by Spectacularphantom).

The good-looking grey defeated the best of both sexes just this past Saturday in a $1 million dollar event which required her to be good, and on top of her game. She was, and given the fact she has only been once out of the money in nine starts, the Graeme and Debbie Rogerson-trained filly will take a power of beating in the hands of Opie Bosson.

Current leader of the ten-leg NZB Filly of the Year Series is John Sargent's St. Germaine (Keeper x Selenium, by Straight Strike) with six points.

�A strong finisher, St Germaine ran second by the barest of margins to Keyora in the Group 2 New Zealand Bloodstock Hawke's Bay Guineas at her second last start.

Before that St Germaine had defeated Katie Lee in the Gold Trail Stakes at Hawke's Bay by some three lengths though it came on a soft track.

Francis Finnegan's Eileen Dubh (Storm Creek x Vingtaine, by Centaine) and Stephen McKee's Masquerade (No Excuse Needed x Disguised, by O'Reilly) are other fillies in the race currently carrying points in the series which sees them sitting in second and third position, with four and three points respectively.

Eileen Dubh showed she can hoof it with the best after a late burst to finish second to St Germaine in the Gold Trail Stakes consequently beating Katie Lee into third, while Masquerade is the Listed Soliloquy Lodge Stakes winner who should love the big roomy track at Riccarton given her relaxed running style.

Comme Tu Veux (Howbaddouwantit x Justa Babe, by Flying Spur) is also a stakes winner for her trainer Richard Yuill having won the Listed Ray Coupland Stakes at Ashburton two starts ago. Last start she finished second, just a neck behind King's Ransom, in the Listed Royal Gem @ Stoney Bridge Canterbury Stakes. On 78 NZTR points she is the second highest rated filly in the race.

Other stakes winning fillies in the race include Graeme and Debbie Rogerson's Queen Sabeel (Savabeel x Vanessatheundressa , by Carnegie), Mark Walker's Te Akau Rose (Thorn Park x Straussbridge, by Straussbrook), and, one of two South Island representatives, the Terry Kennedy-trained Lesley Brook (No Excuse Needed x Polka, by Groom Dancer). All of whom won black-type races as two-year-olds and look to the Group 1 feature to cement themselves as even better three-year-olds.

Promising Cambridge duo Keep the Peace (Keeper x Peace of Mind, by Wild Rampage), trained by Shaune Ritchie, and Aspinal (Pins x Clermont Rose, by Sound Reason), trained by Tony Pike and Mark Donoghue, make their way down to Riccarton in search of the all important black-type.

Both lightly raced, Keep the Peace comes off back to back wins including a last start seven length romp at Trentham, while Aspinal has a last start fourth in the Listed James and Annie Sarten Memorial, two lengths behind Katie Lee, which now reads as fantastic form for this race.

Mark Walker's Sothys Guineas Trial winner Our Ella Belle (Encosta De Lago x Kirin Belle, by McGinty) has the natural ability to match her exquisite pedigree and her form suggests she will be hitting the line strongly at Riccarton on Saturday.

Last year's winning trainer, Kevin Gray, returns to Riccarton this year with Gofonze (Golan x Elfonze, by Krasnapolski) who scored last time out at Wanganui.

Other last start victors to compete in Saturday's Group 1 feature include the Graeme and Mark Sanders trained Te Toro Lass (Ekraar x Daulomani, by Dance Floor), who scored over 1400m at Trentham, and the Tarsha and Michael Stokes trained Howbaddouneedit (Howbaddouwantit x Vaguely Jet, by Jetball), a winner over a mile at Timaru.

The remainder of the field are lightly tried but have all shown enough to cause an upset in the feature. These include the Mark Walker trained Croix Du Sud (Howbaddouwantit x Fairdale Lass, by Centaine) and Sandie (Footstepsinthesand x Shana, by Darshaan), Mike and Paul Moroney's Our Tigeress (Tiger Hill x Trujillo, by Saint Ballado), and Ross Elliot's The Grey Storm (Red Ransom x The Island Storm, by Hennessey).

The $300,000 Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas (1600m) is set to jump as Race 9 at 5.42pm (NZ time) on Saturday at Riccarton Park.

Click here for more information on the NZB Filly of the Year Series