Duchess Kate Justifies Belief

The Informant reports:

Duchess Kate has always been rated highly by her connections, and today she justified that faith with a strong victory against talented opposition at Ellerslie.

The Savabeel filly, a full-sister to last season's high-class three-year-old Saavoya, went into today's New Zealand Herald 1400 without the spectacular last-start winning form of her rivals Hiflyer and Lizzie l'Amour.

But Duchess Kate had been solid and unlucky in two starts since a Taupo maiden win in early October, running fifth in the Soliloquy Stakes and then fourth resuming over 1200 metres two weeks ago. Third in that race was Seventh Up, who was an electrifying winner on Boxing Day.

Today Duchess Kate took a big step up, rallying powerfully in the face of a stern challenge from Hiflyer and proving her quality in the $20,000 event.

Ridden by Michael Coleman, Duchess Kate got back in the field early but burst through a narrow opening to take the lead 150 metres from home. Like he did in his last-start Te Aroha win, Hiflyer came with enormous strides down the outside of the track and looked set to run straight past the entire field. But Duchess Kate was having none of it, kicking back fiercely to his inside and clinging on to win by a nose.

The well-bred Lizzie l'Amour, a winner of her only previous start back in October, caught the eye with a good third.

Duchess Kate is trained by Te Akau's Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards for prominent owner-breeder Max Whitby.

“She's done a great job today,” stable representative Pam Gerard said. “Stephen and Jamie have been very patient with her and she's always shown them heaps of ability. I think she'll step up to black-type level again in the near future.”

Duchess Kate is nominated for the Levin Classic on January 16 and New Zealand Oaks on March 19. She is rated a $26 chance in fixed-odds betting for both Group One features.

“She's put everything together really well today,” Coleman said. “She was a bit flat early on and then we had to wait for some splits. She only got clear at the 200, but she took the gap really well and it was a good effort. She was unlucky here last time in what was probably a pretty good form race. She's a nice filly.”