Racing: Collett keen on New Zealand Oaks trip for Mill Duckie

At the start of summer Mill Duckie wasn't a runner Richard Collett had high hopes of getting to the $400,000 New Zealand Oaks.

But after her brave win in the Mercedes Benz Sunline Vase (2100m) at Ellerslie yesterday the Pukekohe trainer is adamant the Magic Ring filly deserves a shot at group one glory at Trentham on Saturday week.

"I'll have to talk to the owner [Pat Millen] and think about it, but I think the horse now deserves her chance," said Collett.

"The biggest doubt has to be her ability to relax. She's by Magic Ring out of a Masterclass mare and she's very Masterclass looking at her.

"But there is stamina there, and class gets them a long way against their own age and sex."

Winning rider Tasha Collett, who notched her first stakes win for her father Richard yesterday, believes Mill Duckie must be an Oaks hope on the score of guts alone.

While other members of the Collett Dream Team of fillies have fallen out of Oaks contention - Shanzero is being restricted to shorter trips, and Impetus and Mary Agnes are sidelined with injury - Mill Duckie keeps stepping up.

The listed win was her sixth career victory from just 10 starts.

Her only real failure in top company came in the Royal Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on New Year's Day after a luckless fifth in the Eight Carat Stakes (1600m) six days earlier. "She had a hard run on Boxing Day," said Richard Collett.

"Because her owner couldn't travel I backed her up against my better judgment in the Royal Stakes and nothing went right.

"She played up, sweated up badly and then a horse beside her in the gate was late-scratched. She never settled at any point in the race after that."

Collett's other issue to consider before the final Oaks' payment is who will ride the filly at Trentham. His daughter is yet to ride on the course.

Yesterday, Mill Duckie was rated a $8 fixed-odds hope for Trentham, with Daffodil a $4.50 favourite.

Favourite Glamorous Girl tired to eighth after being trapped wide early in a muddling run race. "It was a bit of a stop-start race and that didn't suit her," said rider Andrew Calder. "She didn't get cover for a run and that made her run a bit too tough."

Promising filly Ruqqaya was also unsuited by the crawling pace early and beat just one runner home.

Chris McNab was more confident than punters that Amazing Sky could make a winning debut from his stable at Ellerslie yesterday.

The Cambridge trainer has been preparing Amazing Sky for only five or six weeks, but it was enough to convince him the veteran of nine previous racedays was exceptionally smart.

And the way the 3-year-old filly dashed over the last 100m of the John Wells Memorial to put paid to the opposition underscored McNab's opinion.

"I've got a lot of confidence in her."

McNab has not been given the reason for the stable switch.

"But I've trained for Peter Yip in the past.

"He owned Danroad [sire of Amazing Sky] and he had a share in St Reims."

Peter Yip is prominent in many levels of Hong Kong racing

- additional reporting Mike Dillon