Patience pays off with well-bred filly
Patience has paid off with well-bred filly Wee Nessy, who broke through for her maiden victory in the Cambridge Stud 1400 at Ellerslie on Monday.
The three-year-old filly is a daughter of Champion New Zealand stallion Savabeel and Group One performer Contessa Vanessa, who won the Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m) and Gr.3 Sunline Vase (2100m) for trainers Graeme and Debbie Rogerson, and also placed in five stakes races, including finishing runner-up in the 2018 Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) behind Savvy Coup.
Bred and raced by Lyn Salvidge and Bruce Amies, Wee Nessy had shown trainer Barbara Kennedy plenty of ability at home, but had failed to translate that to raceday success, having placed in just one of her prior eight starts.
However, she was given a freshen-up following her last start over 2100m at Pukekohe in February and dropped back to 1400m at Ellerslie on Monday, and Kennedy was quietly confident of a bold showing from her filly.
In the hands of her husband Warren Kennedy, Wee Nessy settled midfield before she was asked to improve from the 600m and she loomed four wide at the top of the straight. She had the leaders in her sights and quickly gobbled them up, hitting the front with 250m to go and she sustained her run to post a 1-3/4 length win over Night Wolf, with a further half-length back to Marzenie in third.
“I was stuck in a position where I thought if I don’t go now, I could get locked behind a couple of them, so I just asked her a bit early,” Warren Kennedy said. “She doesn’t like to be around horses that much so once I got into the open and I really got to work on her, she responded nicely, which is good to see.
“She has learned a lot and is finally getting the hang of it. She seems to love Ellerslie, so that is a big plus as well.”
Barbara Kennedy was rapt to see Wee Nessy starting to fulfil the promise she has shown at home and she said she expects to see further improvement from her next season.
“A bit of a freshen-up seems to have done the trick and she has come here and put them to bed quite nicely,” Kennedy said.
“She has always shown us quite a bit of ability back home, but getting her to the race track she has just taken a while for that penny to drop.
“She is a big Savabeel filly and I think she will come to herself as a four-year-old. She has just taken a long time to finally figure out what she has got to do.”
Contessa Vanessa is also the dam of one-win American Pharoah gelding Horrie as well as Satono Aladdin two-year-old filly Lady Miranda, a Vadamos yearling filly, and she is currently in-foal to Windsor Park Stud stallion Auguste Rodin.
