NZ Bloodstock’s Filly of the Year Series is set to make a cracking start with this Saturday’s G3 Hawke’s Bay Breeders’ Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) attracting an exceptional field of fillies.

Top-weight in the Gold Trail Stakes is Rollout the Carpet (Holy Roman Emperor).  A top two-year-old, she won the G2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes before placing behind Warhorse in the G1 Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie in March.

Pure Elegance (Redoute’s Choice) created a huge impression at her only start as a two-year-old and looks a very smart filly with every chance in the race.  She is prepared by Steven Ramsay and Julia Ritchie and won a recent trial at Paeroa in a time nearly two seconds faster than any other 1000 metre heat of the day.

Iffraaj currently leads the NZ 3YO winners’ premiership and he has Fix and Meleka Belle engaged.

Fix beat a good field fresh at Taupo last month.  She looks a top filly in the making and her trainers report she is thriving.  Meleka Belle showed that she has no shortage of potential with a dominant win at the same Taupo meeting.

Kate (St Reims) made a winning return to racing at Hawke’s Bay and looks well-placed in the race for trainers Vanessa and Wayne Hillis.  She is being set for the VRC Oaks.

Trainers Graeme and Debbie Rogerson will be represented by Oasis Rose (Oasis Dream) and Soriano (Savabeel).  A powerful filly, Oasis Rose won impressively on debut last season before running second to Travino (General Nediym) in the LR Wentwood Grange Stakes.

Soriano finished fourth in the G1 Diamond Stakes last season and finished just three-quarters of a length behind Fix at Taupo last month.  The other Savabeel engaged is the Ian Gray trained filly Desert Star.

Tony Pike and Mark Donoghue will send out Waterford (Darci Brahma).  She was runner-up in the LR Champagne Stakes last season beating subsequent stakes-winning filly Twilight Granita (Iffraaj).

The Gold Trail Stakes field also includes A Touch of Ruby (Pins), Cassie May (Red Clubs) and Coastal Express (Lucky Unicorn).

This season marks the 40th anniversary of the prestigious Filly of the Year Series where the country’s best three-year-old fillies do battle across 10 black type races, culminating with the G1 New Zealand Oaks in March.

The Filly of the Year Series has been won in recent years by the likes of King’s Rose (Redoute’s Choice), Katie Lee (Pins), Daffodil (No Excuse Needed), Insouciant (Keeper) Princess Coup (Encosta de Lago) and Planet Rock (Fastnet Rock).

More information on the Filly of the Year Series, including the race schedule and the points table, can be viewed here.