Racegoers at tomorrow's Hawkes Bay race meeting at Hastings could witness three future stars of the turf in action.
Lunete, MacChiato and Ethereal are the trio.
Although they are only competing in the minor races, the three fillies look destined for to make the top class.
Lunete lines up in the fourth event and should complete a winning hat-trick in the 1200m race.
The Marscay filly, from the Matamata stable of Roger James, has recorded two wins at 1400m but has been freshened since her last racing on January 1 and should still be able to out-sprint her nine rivals.
Lunete cleared maiden ranks with an effortless 6 3/4 length win at Ellerslie in December and then won easily on the same track on January 1.
The filly, who also includes a second behind subsequent New Zealand Oak winner Tapildo among her other three starts, is on trial tomorrow for a campaign in Sydney during the autumn.
MacChiato, a member of Mark Walker's Matamata stable, has been an impressive winner of her two starts to date.
The first was over 1200m at Rotorua where she cleared out to score by 4 1/2 lengths. She worked really well to overcome traffic problems in the straight to score a 1 1/4 length win over 1400m in the Counties meeting at Pukekohe.
Tomorrow MacChiato steps up another 200m in race five but she looks well placed to score again.
MacChiato is an Australian-bred and is owned by Peter and Phillip Vela. The brothers also race Ethereal from Sheila Laxon's Cambridge stable.
Ethereal, who has placed against some of the top fillies earlier this season, broke through for her maiden win with a game performance over 1300m at Pukekohe on February 14.
On that day she was pressured all the way up the straight by the beautifully bred filly Latte (Maroof-Horlicks) but managed to snatch victory by a nose.
Ethereal is also royally bred, being by Rhythm out of the Hong Kong Cup winner Romanee Conti.
She steps out in race eight and is going to be suited by the 1400m distance.
Sheila Laxon could also take the feature race on the programme, the $10,000 Smith Timber Metric Mile, with the in-form Forlorna.
The five-year-old mare has four wins to her credit from just 11 starts and has performed well against top fields.
- NZPA
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