<\/p>\n
A three-year-old full sister to the great Verry Elleegant is slated to make her debut on Friday night at Southside Cranbourne.<\/p>\n
The Chris Waller-trained Verry Stella has been accepted to contest Race 2 – a maiden event over 1300 metres.<\/p>\n
Very Stella has the same trainer as her now-deceased sister and was also bred by Don Goodwin, who has also since passed away. The filly will carry the same colours – red, royal blue band, armbands, band on cap and pom pom.<\/p>\n
Very Stella is the seventh-named foal from the two-time winner Opulence, herself a daughter of Danroad. Opulence’s other foals are Black Lace (by Towkay), Verry Flash (Zed), Verry Elleegant (Zed), Grand Prospect (Haradasun), Affluential (Zed) and So Suave (Zed).<\/p>\n
Goodwin purchased Opulence in foal to Towkay for NZ$14,000 at the 2011 New Zealand Bloodstock May Sale. He had a plan to send the mare to Grangewilliam Stud stallion Zed, for whom he was a shareholder.<\/p>\n
Opulence is a great-granddaughter of Cotehele House and she herself is the dam of Group 1 winner Danewin and G3 victor Commands (both then became G1-producing sires). Opulence\u2019s fourth dam is the blue hen Eight Carat, who has produced five elite-level scorers – Diamond Lover, Kaapstad, Marquise, Mouawad and Octagonal.<\/p>\n
The Zed-Opulence mating has produced a good deal of success for Goodwin, who died last December aged 86, and his fellow owners.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Verry Flash won the Listed Rangitikei Gold Cup (1600m) at Trentham. He won 14 races and was twice placed at G3 level.<\/p>\n
Verry Elleegant, who died in February last year, is remembered as one of the all-time greats. The 2020-21 Australian Horse of the Year boasted a record of 16 wins, 11 at G1 level and prizemoney earnings of $14.8 million. She was victorious in the Caulfield Cup in 2021, before taking out the Melbourne Cup a year later.<\/p>\n
Grand Prospect won four races in New Zealand and the Bob Peters-owned, John Leek Jnr-trained\u00a0Affluential triumphed in the Grand National Hurdle in 2024, while the Waller-trained So Suave, who races in Brae Sokolski’s colours, shed his maiden tag at Doomben in June.<\/p>\n
Verry Stella has prepped-up for her debut with three trials and two jumpouts. She will be handled by Fred Kersley, with the pair to jump from gate three.<\/p>\n
Before his death, Goodwin, who was named the inaugural winner of the New Zealand Small Breeder of the Year Award in 2020-21, said of Verry Stella: “Waller has got the cracking full to Verry Elleegant and they tell me that she is a gorgeous filly.”<\/p>\n
Opulence passed away in 2022, with Verry Stella being her final foal, while Zed died in 2024.<\/p>\n
\n
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