Fashionable win by regally-bred filly

WS’s Fashionably had the flashing light on after her last start performance and the royally-bred filly made amends stylishly at Te Rapa recnetly. Purchased by Te Akau principal David Ellis for $240,000 at the 2015 Sydney Easter Yearling Sale from the draft of Kitchwin Hills for Waikato Stud owners Mark and Garry Chittick, the breakthrough followed two strong pevious efforts for minor placings.

“It’s good to see DC (Ellis) and Te Akau getting these results, and it keeps all the syndicates happy and I’m pleased to see the team going well,” Garry Chittick said. “In the last three weeks, Savabeel’s had the two-year-old win at Ellerslie, mile winner a week later, and the Wellington Cup winner, and it’s a pretty versatile stallion that does that. He’s had eleven stakes winners this year and I doubt there would be any stallion in Australia going better.

“He produces lovely types and we’ve got a lovely draft of horses again (for the upcoming Karaka sales). He’s easy to breed to and the O’Reilly/Savabeel is just phenomenal – running at about twenty-five percent stakes winners to runners – and we have about sixty O’Reilly mares at stud now. We have been very happy with the training and communications. In fact, we’ve been kept right in the loop with it and racing horses is good fun.

“David bought the filly originally, and I was talking with Mark about her, as we’d had the family but sort of run out of it, and he said ‘why don’t we buy it and get back in the family’? I happened to be over at Sydney (sales) and said to DC we’d like to own her. Chris (Phillips), our vet, to be fair, fell in love with her. But he likes those English-type of horses, because she was more delicate than what you normally see and not a robust looking Kiwi filly. It would be nice to think we could get some black print with her in the next year or so, the mare was a bit later maturing but she might yet be a Queensland filly.”

At Tauranga, Fashionably was one out in seventh early before being shuffled at the 1000m, but she quickened appreciably rounding the home turn and in the end won as she liked by one and a half lengths. “They eased the pace and she got up charging on me a little bit and she was hanging in too, so I couldn’t go out when I wanted but after that she did well to pick herself up, got into a nice rhythm, and won really well in the end,” Bosson said. “They went slow and sprinted from the 700m and I had to get up and get closer to them as we turned in.”

Fashionably is the first foal of dual Group One winner Scarlett Lady (Savabeel), who won the Queensland Oaks and New Zealand Stakes, at the highest level, among eight victories and $821,000 in prize money. “She’s bred to be good, is certainly improving and there are a lot of manners to be learnt along the way so she will just keep stepping up,” Autridge said.

“I think she’ll start to put it together now, it’s a pity it’s taken so long because she’s missed out on most of her three-year-old career, but the owners are very patient people and there are some nice races coming up. The breed improves with time; she’s improving so there’s plenty of upside.”