Glamour filly wins but leaves a glimmer of hope for future rivals

Well Written and Matt Cartwright came late to beat He Who Dares in the Jimmy Schick Shaw's Auckland Guineas. Photo / Kenton Wright

The problem with being Well Written is that just winning is hardly good enough any more.

It was good enough for trainer Stephen Marsh as his NZ 1000 Guineas winner stayed unbeaten in the $270,000 Jimmy Schick Shaw’s Auckland Guineas at Ellerslie on Friday.

But Marsh knew what many of the punters who backed Well Written into $1.20 didn’t - that today’s version of Well Written wasn’t the absolute version.

So he was happy to get the “W” and move on the bigger targets ahead, the $1.5million Karaka Millions Three-Year-Old and the $4m NZB Kiwi.

When your reputation, recent purchase price and public expectations are all so high most people want their red-hot superstars to win by lengths.

But Well Written clawed her way past leader He Who Dares, who kicked hard first time in blinkers and looked like it might cause one of the biggest upsets of the season at the 200m mark.

Well Written did what she does though — she won— and Marsh says there were a few reasons she wasn’t quite as explosive as in her other three victories.

“We weren’t going to come to this race until three weeks ago,” says Marsh.

“When we changed plans to include the Karaka Millions [January 24] then this became the logical lead-up race, being 1400m a month out from the 1600m.

“So she was ready to win but by no means at her peak.

“There is a lot of improvement left in her and we will now make a plan how to best get her to the Karaka Million bang on.”

That will almost certainly include another trip to Ellerslie for an exhibition gallop, either at the January 11 meeting or when the course proper is open for gallops a week before the big night.

Behind the winner, He Who Dares reignited his summer by fighting hard while Affirmative Action was ridden to beat the winner and couldn’t, but might be better suited in a bigger field with more tempo in which he can settle and surge late.


Considering the fact Well Written was stretched on Friday, it is surprising she shortened into $1.40 to the Karaka Millions and $1.90 for the NZB Kiwi, which is on March 7.

As far as the NZB Kiwi is concerned, her winning performance was almost perfect.

Well Written remains unbeaten and our pin-up girl for the summer but she wasn’t so daunting that she will scare the Aussies away from coming to the slot race.

Had the daughter of Written Tycoon smashed her rivals by five lengths it could have become very tricky for slot holders to cajole the connections of a quality Australian-trained three-year-old to bring them to the NZB Kiwi.

But now, with $4 million to be divided up and Well Written looking a wonderful filly but not quite the equine wonder woman we saw at Riccarton, the flame of hope still burns.

What happens at Ellerslie on January 24 won’t just be a big deal because of the $1.5m stake but what it means for our richest race six weeks later.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.