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Makfi filly Eleonora is bound for the ATC Australian Oaks in Sydney following her victory in the G3 Sunline Vase at Ellerslie on Saturday.
The filly, who won the G3 Ethereal Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield in the spring, is trained by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman.
Eleonora’s win in Sunline Vase will be her only appearance by in the 2016-17 New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series due to her Sydney plans.Eleonora (Makfi x Sopra Tutto by Van Nistelrooy) is granddaughter of the champion mare Ethereal.
She has now had 10 starts for three wins, six placings and more than $270,000 in prize-money.Saturday’s win earned Eleonora 6 points in the Filly of the Year Series, slotting her into equal eighth place on the points table.
Runner-up Dreamcrafter (Mastercraftsman) picked up her first 3 points of the Series with the third-placed Dame Margo Fonteyn (High Chaparral) also being added to the table with 1.5 points.Another Makfi filly Bonneval heads the table with 15.5 points, with La Diosa (So You Think) on 14 and Volpe Veloce (Foxwedge) 12. The latter pair are already in Sydney and unlikely to play any further part in the series.
The series has just one more leg – the G1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham on March 18. That race carries 12 points for first, 7 for second and 3.5 for third.• PINS Residential won her third stakes race in a row and took a prominent place on the New Zealand Bloodstock Southern Filly of the Year Series table when she stormed home to take out Saturday’s Listed NZB Insurance Stakes at Wingatui.
Residential had beaten her stablemate Starvoia (Starcraft) by a nose in the Listed Dunedin Guineas and by four lengths in the Listed Southland Guineas (1600m).The John and Karen Parsons-trained pair went to war again in Saturday’s fillies’ feature with Residential making a huge late run to catch Starvoia in the shadows of the post and win by half a length.
Residential was bred by Waikato Stud and has now had 11 starts for five wins, including three at stakes level, for prize-money of $118,500.Residential picked up 7 points for Saturday’s win, bringing her equal with Canterbury Belle Stakes winner La Diosa (So You Think).
Starvoia has now finished second in both legs of the Series, earning a total of 8 points to move to the top of the table. A winner of three of her nine starts, Starvoia has been placed in five Listed races.The third placegetter was Dontpokethetiger (Beneteau), who picked up 2 points to sit in equal fourth place alongside O’Naturelle (O’Reilly).
The next leg of the Series is the Listed NZB Airfreight Stakes (1600m) at Riccarton on April 8.