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Foxwedge filly Volpe Veloce extended her unbeaten record to five wins from five starts and picked up her first points in the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series when she won the G3 Eulogy Stakes at Awapuni on Saturday.
Four dominant wins in her first four starts had stamped the Graham Richardson-trained filly as a leading contender for Filly of the Year honours, but Saturday’s race was her Series debut.
She was a late scratching from the G3 Gold Trail Stakes at Hastings in September and a series of setbacks ruled her out of last month’s G1 NZ 1000 Guineas at Riccarton.A daughter of Foxwedge and Barathea’s Group winner Bardego, Volpe Veloce was first sold for $120,000 at the 2014 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
She was then purchased from the Lyndhurst Farm draft by Richardson for $240,000 at the 2015 NZB Premier Sale at Karaka and has now won twice at stakes level after claiming the Listed Castletown Stakes in June.Volpe Veloce’s dam Bardego won the Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes and G3 Blue Diamond Preview.
Her four winers from six foals to race include Listed Black Opal Stakes winner Delago Bolt (Delago Brom).Bardego is out of the stakes-placed Devil’s Gold (Bellotto) from the family of stakes winners Ta Ta Tatiana (Carry The Crown), Maha Chakri (Beautiful Crown) and Whittington (Tale Of The Cat).
Bardego, purchased for $46,000 by Randwick Bloodstock Agency for Rushton Park at the 2015 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, has a 2YO colt and a yearling filly by Foxwedge and a Helmet filly born in October.Her Foxwedge colt was sold for $150,000 to Go Racing as a yearling after being purchased for $155,000 at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale in 2015.
Volpe Veloce is one of three stakes winners by Foxwedge.Richardson said he would monitor the filly in the coming days before deciding on her next start.
“I’m undecided at the moment. There’s the Eight Carat at Ellerslie or we could go to Trentham for the Levin Classic, it will be one of those two races,” he said.Volpe Veloce completed a hat-trick at Awapuni for Richardson, who had earlier produced Wildflower (Keeper) and Pure Lorde (Darci Brahma) to win. He also had a win at Te Rapa with talented mare Los Vargas (Fast ‘N’ Famous).
Los Vargas has now won six races and she is in line for a black type start at her next appearance.“I have to talk to the owners, but she’ll go to Ellerslie for the Newmarket or the Railway,” Richardson said.
Saturday’s win earned Volpe Veloce six points in the Filly of the Year Series, pushing her to equal third place on the table alongside Gold Trail winner Honey Rider Pins).The first two places on the leader board are occupied by the first two finishers in the NZ 1000 Guineas – La Diosa (So You Think) has 12 points and Bella Gioia (Swiss Ace) has 7.