Quality filly Atishu strikes again

Rising star Atishu again blitzed her rivals to win the Listed Warstep S. at Riccarton this afternoon and be crowned New Zealand Bloodstock’s Southern Filly of the Year.

For breeder Waikato Stud it completed a trans-Tasman black type double following success in the G3 JHB Carr S. at Randwick with the John O’Shea-trained All Hallows’ Eve, a Sacred Falls filly bred and raced with Rosemont Stud.

And at Caulfield, the Phillip Stokes-trained Blue Ocean was successful and he was also bred by the farm with O’Shea’s wife Isabelle.

By Savabeel, Atishu was a $260,000 purchase by Go Racing from its New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale draft and she placed in three of her four starts in the spring including in the Listed Wanganui Guineas.

After impressive back-to-back victories at Pukekohe and Riccarton through March she then turned the NZB Airfreight Stakes into a procession, scoring by a widening 7l.

Atishu was quickly into stride before rider Kozzi Asano allowed her to drift back in the field and were last at the top of the straight.

Asano asked the filly for the supreme effort in the closing 350 metres and she responded in impressive fashion to mow her rivals down.

Trainer Stephen Marsh will see how the filly is when she returns home before confirming a tilt at the G1 Queensland Oaks for the filly.

“She is coming home to Cambridge now and will have a few days in the paddock before we make any further plans for her,” he said.

“It’s a big trip back by float so she will need the rest, but if she travels well and comes through everything without any harm then a crack at Brisbane is definitely on the cards.

Atishu is out of the No Excuse Needed mare Posy, who won two races and is a sister to the former champion 3-year-old and multiple Group 1 winner Daffodil, who has produced three stakes placegetters in Grand De Flora, Grand Bouquet and Snowdrop.