Progressive 3-year-old filly Kitty Flash led all the way in the hands of Masa Hashizume to down a talented field of open-class gallopers in a special 1100m trial conducted before racing kicked off at Tauranga on Thursday.
The daughter of Ace High, who was fresh up after finishing seventh in the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November, headed up a three-strong team of runners for Cambridge trainer Andrew Forsman, who all pleased their mentor with their runs.
Three-year-old staying prospect Hinekaha chased her stablemate hard in the run home to finish second, while open-class star Aegon never left second gear as he made up good ground from last to finish on the tail of Group 1 placegetter Pearl Of Alsace, who took third.
Forsman indicated he is likely to tackle the Group 2 Top Kat Roofing Levin Classic (1400m) at Trentham on January 11 fresh up with Kitty Flash, a race where she could be joined by Hinekaha in a dual assault on the feature.
“I’m not quite sure where we will go until I’ve had a talk to Masa, but the Levin Classic is still on the cards as 1400m in a fresh state will suit,” Forsman said.
