Tenacious filly Chantilly Lace (NZ) (US Navy Flag) will be chasing further black type honours when she signs off for the season at Wanganui on Saturday.
The Chrissy Bambry-trained two-year-old will be spelled after the Listed John Turkington Forestry Ltd Castletown Stakes (1200m) and has the right credentials to suggest she can go out on a high.
Chantilly Lace was a course and distance winner earlier in the year and her current preparation opened on another encouraging note when fifth in the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) before a runner-up finish at New Plymouth.
Most recently, she finished third in the Listed Auckland Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Pukekohe and came through the race in grand order.
“She’s just a little ripper, she tries really hard and has got a lot of untapped ability,” Bambry said.
“We’re still learning about her, but she pulled up great after the trip to Pukekohe and ate everything up.”
After initially thinking of a break for Chantilly Lace following her northern venture, Bambry has elected to give the filly one more start.
“We’ve kept her ticking over on the treadmill and keeping her happy. We saw that it was a small field and Wanganui is just up the road,” she said.
“It’s an opportunity to get a little bit more black-type with her.”
Chantilly Lace has collected a win and a quartet of top four finishes from her seven outings and will be partnered by apprentice Lily Sutherland, who was aboard when they finished second at New Plymouth.
“She’s been a bit unlucky a few times and I’ve got a lot of time for her and really looking forward to her three-year-old season on the better tracks and over a bit more ground,” Bambry said.
“We’ll give her a month out after Saturday, she’s earned a nice break and then aim for some of the three-year-old races in the spring.”
Bred by Kevin Hickman, Chantilly Lace was purchased out of last year’s Valachi Downs Dispersal Sale via the Gavelhouse Plus platform.
“I was training a horse for (bloodstock agent) Paul Moroney and I asked him to do up a short list for me as I didn’t have the time to go up and look at 50 horses,” Bambry said.
“He gave me a short list of a dozen fillies and she was the one we really wanted and we were lucky to get her.”
Chantilly Lace was secured for $66,000 and is raced by Bambry with her parents Tony and Judith.
She is a daughter of U S Navy Flag and provided The Oaks Stud shuttle stallion with his first Northern Hemisphere winner and will bid to deliver a first stakes victory on Saturday for the sire in this part of the world.
“That would be a nice tag to have and tick that box off as well,” Bambry said.
While there is an air of expectation about Chantilly Lace’s prospects, a more cautious view is being taken about stablemate Kingfisher Lad’s chances in The George Robinson Memorial Foxton Cup (2040m).
“He won really well for us at Awapuni and it probably took a bit more out of him than I thought and he ran below par at Hastings,” Bambry said.
“I did his bloods and he had a virus brewing so I had to back off and I would imagine he might blow out the last bit, but he needs to have a run.
“He’ll take good improvement from Saturday and he will be a nice horse to follow through the winter.”
Bambry hoped to have a second black type contender at Wanganui, but has been forced to withdraw Deerfield from the Listed AGC Training Stakes WFA (1600m). “I’ve had to scratch him, he’s just not 100 percent so we decided not to run him on what will be a really heavy track,” she said.
