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Sebring filly She Brings Joy got up in the last stride for a thrilling win in the G2 Stella Artois Royal Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on Sunday, the fifth leg of the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series.
In a tactically run race Adis dictated terms from in front and kicked strongly in the straight. She appeared to have stolen the race before She Brings Joy lengthened stride in the last 150 metres and snatched victory by a half-head.
It was the second year in a row that trainer Stephen Marsh and jockey Danielle Johnson won the Royal Stakes, having won it in 2016 with the subsequent Filly of the Year Sofia Rosa (Makfi).
“I can't believe this horse was still a maiden,” Marsh said. “She's been probably our most promising maiden for a long time.“I thought she'd win first up and then second up but it's just those bad draws that have plagued us. Finally today she drew a barrier.”
Bred and raced by Kevin Hickman, She Brings Joy has had four starts for one win, one placing and more than $60,000 in prize-money.She Brings Joy picked up eight Filly of the Year Series points for Sunday’s win, taking her to third place on the points table behind Volpe Veloce (Foxwedge) and La Diosa (So You Think).
• For the second time this season, Karaka graduates Gift Of Power and Hasahalo have finished first and second in a two-year-old stakes race.Gift Of Power (Power) narrowly beat Hasahalo (Savabeel) in the G2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1100m) at Trentham last month, but Hasahalo turned the tables in Sunday’s G3 Barneswood Farm Eclipse Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie.
Ridden by Sam Spratt for trainer Stephen McKee, Hasahalo was clearly last in the seven-horse field but produced an explosive turn of foot in the straight to charge down the outside of the track and edge out Gift Of Power by a head.Hasahalo was bred by Waikato Stud in partnership with Isabelle O’Shea , the wife of Godolphin’s Australian trainer John O’Shea.
Offered by Waikato Stud at the 2016 Karaka Premier Sale, Hasahalo was bought by Go Racing for $110,000. She has now had a win and a placing from three starts, earning $61,000 in prize-money.Waikato Stud will offer a full-brother to Hasahalo, a Savabeel colt, as Lot 193 at the 2017 Premier Sale.
The Eclipse Stakes runner-up Gift Of Power, who was bought for $180,000 at the Premier Sale, has had four starts for three wins and a placing and has earned more than $106,000 in stakes.• Karaka Festival Sale graduate Swissta earned almost three times his purchase price in one hit when he won Sunday’s G2 Jamieson Park Great Northern Guineas (1600m) at Ellerslie.
Trainer Richard Collett paid just $24,000 to buy Swissta (Swiss Ace) out of the Westbury Stud draft at the 2015 Festival Sale. On Sunday he picked up his third win in a row and boosted his prize-money earnings above $78,000.“We bought him cheap at the third-tier sale at Karaka and we train and part-own him along with a great group of owners,” Richard Collett said.
“He’s a really nice horse and he’s beaten older horses in his last two starts – in a maiden race and in a good Rating 65 race here at Ellerslie.Both of the Guineas placegetters are also graduates of Karaka sales. Runner-up Tiptronic cost $100,000 at the 2015 Premier Sale, while third-placed Jon Snow was bought for $65,000 at the 2015 Select Sale.
• Karaka graduate Ruud Not Too completed a notable Ellerslie carnival double when she won the G2 Rich Hill Mile (1600m) at Ellerslie on Sunday.Trained by Stephen Marsh for the Go Racing Ruud Not Too Syndicate, the four-year-old Bernardini mare was one of the most impressive winners at the Boxing Day meeting when she won the inaugural Dunstan Feeds Rising Stars Championship (1500m).
Six days later she was at it again, charging through a narrow gap along the inside running rail and out-toughing a quality field for her first black-type win.
Ruud Not Too has now had 13 starts for five wins, three placings and more than $180,000 in prize-money. This was her first stakes win, but she had finished second in last season’s Gr. 2 Eight Carat Classic.
Runner-up All Roads (Road to Rock) is also a Karaka graduate, having cost $40,000 at the 2013 Select Sale.• The National Yearling Sales Series at Karaka gained an important pedigree update when Starcraft gelding Blizzard won Sunday’s HK$3 million Group 3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup at Sha Tin.
A half-sister to the impressive winner will be offered during the Select Sale.Blizzard has now had 21 starts for eight wins, seven placings and HK$11.75 million in prize-money.
Blizzard is one of two foals to race, both winners, out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Stormy Choice, who is a half-sister to the G1 winner Danestorm (Danehill).Stormy Choice’s chestnut filly by Ferlax will go through the ring during the 2017 Select Sale as Lot 1062.
