She's Splendid Indeed

Date: 8 Dec 2023

She's Splendid Indeed

Bouncing back to winning form, Stella Splendida (4 m Zoustar – Scintillula, by Galileo) scored dominantly in the $18,500 Rating 75 1200 metres on 7 December at New Plymouth.

Having raced clear to win impressively when trialling on 31 October at Te Rapa, Stella Splendida remained back in the Rating 75 1000 metres when confronted with firm footing on 12 November at Tauherenikau. In the race sponsored by Bunnings New Plymouth, Stella Splendida won by one and three-quarter lengths in 1:12.2 for 1200 metres and returned handsome odds ($4.10 & $2.10) in a small field.

An impressive dual winner over 1200 metres on soft ground, the track rating Soft6 appeared made to measure. Given a positive ride by Craig Grylls, Stella Splendida was sitting pretty in second before quickening to an advantage mid-straight and she had the wood on her rivals thereafter.

“It was a really good win and the give in track probably helped her today,” said co-trainer Mark Walker. “It was lovely ride of Craig Grylls’, summing it up from the jump, and with her confidence restored by winning she can hopefully go on with it from here. “She was a beautiful yearling, out of a Galileo mare so likely to continue improving with age.” Stella Splendida is a high-class filly with a unique presence of athleticism and power, and from a European and international family of Group performers.

“She’s another beautiful filly that we bought from Sir Peter Vela at Pencarrow,” Ellis said. “We considered her the best filly in the sale that year and, rightfully, she topped the sale. “We thought she was the type to be a sales' topping filly. It’s very seldom we see a filly with her pedigree at Karaka, so we were very happy to secure her for the price we did. “She’s owned by some really good clients of Te Akau Racing and is a big scopey filly that is continuing to improve as she matures.

“One of the owners, Ben Kwok, is very loyal and supportive of Te Akau, and also John Magnier, the most successful owner in the world and founder of Coolmore Stud, has a sizeable share. “We’ve trained horses for Coolmore, but she’s the first horse we’ve had in work for him personally and it’s very exciting to have a progressive winning filly that he’s involved in.

“John got in touch with me to say that he’d been impressed with the horses that we’d been buying at Te Akau and he’d like to be involved in a nice filly. “She looked to travel up pretty well with some moisture in the ground, and you couldn’t really fault the way she won.”

Owned by Te Akau 2021 Karaka Filly Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), Stella Splendida was purchased as a yearling by David Ellis CNZM at the 2021 Karaka Book 1 Sale, from the draft of Pencarrow Stud, and now won three of seven.

Stella Splendida was strapped by Tayla Melvin.



Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz
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