Dijon Bleu (NZ) Named Filly of the Year as Savvy Coup (NZ) Wins Oaks

Savvy Coup (NZ) (Savabeel) scored an outstanding win in the $400,000 Group 1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham on Saturday, which confirmed Dijon Bleu (NZ) (Burgundy) as the 2017-18 New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year.

Dijon Bleu missed the Oaks due to injury, but she had already well and truly made her mark on the Series. She earned a formidable total of 30 points with wins in the Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m), Group 3 Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) and Group 2 Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic (2000m), along with placings in the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and Group 3 Eulogy Stakes (1550m).

The only filly in Saturday’s Oaks field who could catch Dijon Bleu was Contessa Vanessa (NZ) (Bullbars), who had 19.5 points to her name with the winner of the Oaks earning 12 points.

Contessa Vanessa gave it her very best shot. As Savvy Coup cruised to the lead early in the home straight, Contessa Vanessa surged through on the inside and threw down an enormous challenge.

The pair drew away to fight out a desperate finish, with Savvy Coup wresting control inside the last 100 metres to win by a length and a quarter for jockey Chris Johnson.

Savvy Coup, trained by Michael and Matthew Pitman for her owners the Bruford and Coupland families, was a $65,000 purchase at the 2016 Premier Sale at Karaka.

She has now had 12 starts for five wins, four placings and $444,625 in prizemoney.

“She’s an incredible filly,” Matthew Pitman said. “All season, she’s been thereabouts against some of the best colts and geldings.

“The Brufords and the Couplands have been two of our biggest sets of supporters for years, so to win this Group One for them means a hell of a lot. Our team behind us works incredibly hard as well, so this is big for them too. It’s massive. It’s been an incredible season.

“We’ve been taking part in good races for a long time, but we really wanted to start winning them. We made a plan to target some nice young horses to buy, and this is the result of that.”

Savvy Coup moved up to 24 points in the Filly of the Year Series, a third-place finish behind Dijon Bleu (30) and Contessa Vanessa (26).

Dijon Bleu was bred by Craig Grammer and the Robinson Family Trust. She was offered by Landsdowne Park at the 2016 Select Sale, where she was bought for $26,000 by Lisa Latta. The Awapuni trainer Lisa Latta shares ownership with K T J Dixon, P Finlayson, Ms D A Masters, M G Passey, A J Rennie and T D Tomlins.

Dijon Bleu has had 11 starts for six wins, three placings and $306,700 in prizemoney.

Savvy Coup:

Dijon Bleu: