Volpe Veloce
Trish Dunell
Volpe Veloce went to another level at Ellerslie where she kept her unbeaten record intact on Sunday at the expense of small, but select field of three-year-olds.
The daughter of Foxwedge took on a hot line-up of colts and geldings in the Listed NZB Insurance Karaka 3YO Mile and she put them away with a typically gallant performance.
Volpe Veloce's previous six wins included the Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic, but this was her sternest test and she stepped up to the plate to down Heroic Valour and Jon Snow.
"Every time she puts in. I don't know how good she is, she just keeps improving all the time," trainer Graham Richardson said.
Volpe Veloce settled three back and one off the fence under Michael Coleman, who was deputising for the suspended Johnathan Parkes.
"I was feeling like I was in the hot seat in probably her toughest test," Coleman said. "She was a bit flat-footed coming off the corner, but from the 300 she really wound into it."
Volpe Veloce, who has Group One nominations for both the Vodafone NZ Derby and the Wellfield NZ Oaks, will make her next appearance in the Gr.2 Cambridge Stud Sir Tristram Fillies' Classic at Te Rapa on February 11.
Runner-up Heroic Valour's rider Opie Bosson was left bemoaning the lack of speed in the middle stages.
"They went too slow and he over-raced, if it was run at genuine pace he would have won," he said.
A decision will be made in the coming days whether Heroic Valour remains on a path toward the NZ Derby or if the focus switches to the Gr.1 Australian Guineas at Flemington on March 4.
Jon Snow's co-trainer Murray Baker is likely to test his colt over 2000 metres before settling on a grand final plan while the NZ Derby contenders Sacred Elixir and Romancer lost no admirers with their efforts for fourth and fifth respectively. – NZ Racing Desk.
The daughter of Foxwedge took on a hot line-up of colts and geldings in the Listed NZB Insurance Karaka 3YO Mile and she put them away with a typically gallant performance.
Volpe Veloce's previous six wins included the Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic, but this was her sternest test and she stepped up to the plate to down Heroic Valour and Jon Snow.
"Every time she puts in. I don't know how good she is, she just keeps improving all the time," trainer Graham Richardson said.
Volpe Veloce settled three back and one off the fence under Michael Coleman, who was deputising for the suspended Johnathan Parkes.
"I was feeling like I was in the hot seat in probably her toughest test," Coleman said. "She was a bit flat-footed coming off the corner, but from the 300 she really wound into it."
Volpe Veloce, who has Group One nominations for both the Vodafone NZ Derby and the Wellfield NZ Oaks, will make her next appearance in the Gr.2 Cambridge Stud Sir Tristram Fillies' Classic at Te Rapa on February 11.
Runner-up Heroic Valour's rider Opie Bosson was left bemoaning the lack of speed in the middle stages.
"They went too slow and he over-raced, if it was run at genuine pace he would have won," he said.
A decision will be made in the coming days whether Heroic Valour remains on a path toward the NZ Derby or if the focus switches to the Gr.1 Australian Guineas at Flemington on March 4.
Jon Snow's co-trainer Murray Baker is likely to test his colt over 2000 metres before settling on a grand final plan while the NZ Derby contenders Sacred Elixir and Romancer lost no admirers with their efforts for fourth and fifth respectively. – NZ Racing Desk.
