Well Written thrashed many of her NZB Kiwi rivals in the Karaka Millions. Photo / Kenton Wright
If you were looking for ways Well Written can be beaten in New Zealand’s richest-ever horse race, you wouldn’t have found them at Ellerslie on Monday morning.
The unbeaten 3-year-old filly provided the perfect dress rehearsal for Saturday’s $4 million NZB Kiwi with a faultless hit-and-run mission on the home of New Zealand racing.
Trainer Stephen Marsh is following the exact same routine that saw Well Written produce one of the great modern-day New Zealand performances by a 3-year-old in the Karaka Millions Three-Year-Old, also at Ellerslie on January 24.
“We brought her up here to work her a few days before back then and we have followed that again this time,” Marsh said.
“But I think she might be better now then she was then.”
Marsh says that is because he has been able to wind Well Written up as he likes in the last fortnight, with no pressure on where she went or when.
“She is so clean-winded, she doesn’t need a lot of work and even though we had the option of trialling her up our sleeve, we haven’t needed to use it.”
Whatever Marsh has been doing with Well Written in those last six weeks has agreed with her.
She waltzed back into Ellerslie, where four of her wins have come, with the poise reserved for the unbeaten and unbowed.
Barely a bead of sweat after the float trip from Cambridge, no Auckland traffic tension for the girl not used to going slow.
Well Written hasn’t grown much in that six weeks away from the public eye but for a 3-year-old veteran of just five starts, she seems unflappable – understandable when you consider for Well Written, visits to the racetrack rarely involve strain.
Still only around 480kg, with maybe another 20kg or 30kg needing to be packed on as she thickens out next season, the daughter of Written Tycoon looks fit without the overly taut belly of some of our better racehorses, feeling the effects of a busier summer.
“That is the great thing, she hasn’t had that many starts and has won most of them pretty easily,” Marsh said.
“She has had a few tiny issues along the way but she is spot-on now.”
Well Written went out and proved the boss right in her trackwork session, held wide out on the course proper.
Galloping with four-win stablemate The Exponent, Well Written worked over 1200m, speeding up for Matt Cartwright from the 600m mark and easing clear in the last 100m as The Exponent got the same view of the special filly that her rivals usually do.
Marsh was happy but was empty-handed; no stopwatch needed to tell him what his eyes had seen.
“I didn’t bother clocking her, it would have been somewhere between 34 and 35 seconds for her last 600m but we saw exactly what we needed to,” he enthused.
As effortless as the work was, Well Written’s next 15 minutes was just as important for those searching for chinks in the armour of a $1.20 favourite.
Recovery: Quick.
Attitude: Nonplussed.
Departure: Supermodel-like. Swan in, saunter out.
It won’t be that easy on Saturday. It can’t be.
The NZB Kiwi is, after all, the richest race ever held in New Zealand and comes with a beefy bonus if Well Written wins.
If the weather forecasters are right, a fine-day Ellerslie could have 12,000 racing fans creating a wave of energy and the girl with the most camera phones aimed at her will be the chestnut in the removable red hood.
And as fast as she is, few of her rivals’ jockeys will be looking to do Well Written any favours – although that usually doesn’t matter when they are behind you.
So far, NZB Kiwi week is going perfectly to script for the leading lady.
That could, of course, change at Tuesday night’s barrier draw at the Karaka sales complex, screened live on Trackside at 7pm.
After all, Well Written could draw the outside gate.
That would undoubtedly see her price drift from the rock-solid $1.20 it has been since her Karaka Millions demolition job.
But there are still only 14 horses in the NZB Kiwi. And don’t bet on even barrier 14 stopping Well Written on Saturday.
$4 million plus bonuses, 3-year-olds, 1500m.
(Expected field, barrier draw Tuesday night)
What: New Zealand’s richest race day with stakes of $8,550,000.
Where: Ellerslie, Auckland.
When: This Saturday.
Who: Many of our best gallopers, headlined by unbeaten filly Well Written, taking on a smattering of Australians.
Highlights: $4m NZB Kiwi, $1.25m HKJC World Pool New Zealand Derby, $1m Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes, $600,000 Trackside Auckland Cup, $600,000 Al Basta Equiworld Dubai Classic, $550,000 Sistema Stakes, $250,000 Haunui Farm Kings Plate.
More info: www.ellerslie.co.nz
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.