Girl power gives Forsman huge boost for Ellerslie extravaganza
Michael Guerin • January 23rd, 2026 9:43 AM • 4 min read
Andrew Forsman’s chances of a Karaka Millions winner have almost trebled in a fortnight.
But the Cambridge trainer has been to the big dances enough to know that winning even one of tomorrow’s big money races won’t be easy.
Just a few weeks ago, Forsman was facing having just Hinekaha in the $1,040,000 Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic as his only favoured winning chance at Ellerslie’s mammoth meeting.
But a lot can change in a racing month and, for Forsman, that change has all been good.
The final Ellerslie lead-up meeting on January 11 saw Forsman fillies Stromlinien (2-year-old race - Race 4) and Chilling Out (3-year-old - Race 5) both win their way into their rich sales races.
And then last week, he decided to bypass the Thorndon Mile at Trentham with in-form Mary Shan and she now finds herself in a very winnable $100,000 mares’ race to open the programme.
“It is a tough, tough meeting and we are not going there saying we will win this or that,” Forsman said.
“You’d be thrilled to get one win but I think we have two really good mares and two fillies who are very much on the way up, while we also have horses like Yaldi and Fat Cat who has [sic] earned their right to be there.”
Mary Shan looked one of the better-value bets at $7.50 when the final field markets opened, and while she meets a three-time Group 1 winner in Provence, the latter was only a late inclusion to the HKJC World Pool Jo Giles Stakes over 1400m.
“Obviously she [Provence] is the class horse of the field but our mare is in really good form and comes in well at the weights,” Forsman said.
She carries 57kg, but most of the mares on 55kg have yet to win an open race “or anything like that, so I thought her $7.50 opening price was quite generous”.
Mary Shan did run down El Vencedor to win over 1600m at Ellerslie last start and finished second to Orchestral in last season’s Aotearoa Classic so looks a great each-way bet.
Hinekaha beat subsequent Rich Hill Mile winner Queen Zou when winning the Cal Isuzu at Te Rapa last start so has the class to win this year’s Aotearoa Classic – but with one reservation.
“She is going great but she hasn’t really flown at Ellerslie in the past,” Forsman said.
“It isn’t that she has been poor there, she just hasn’t seemed to enjoy it as much as, say, Te Rapa.
“But she is a very happy horse heading into what is an even race, where we also have Yaldi, who gets a good draw.”
Stromlinien will be trying to emulate 2022 Karaka Millions winner Dynastic by winning the $1 million dash at just her second start but Forsman isn’t intimidated by the more favoured speedsters.
“There are some horses there with more experience than her but I am not convinced they will go any further than her in their careers.
“I think this is a really good filly who, while she might not be a natural early season juvenile like some of them, she might have more scope.
“Again, I thought the $21 for her was really decent money.”
Chilling Out boomed home to win her latest Ellerslie outing and has the stamp of a good Savabeel filly with plenty of upside to come.
“Clearly there are a lot of well-performed horses in what is a strong race, but we are very much on the way up so it will be really interesting to see what she can do,” Forsman said.
Chilling Out opened a $27 chance with the TAB, with Craig Grylls to do the riding, as he will on all of the Forsman females.
Forsman’s females
Race 1: Mary Shan (No 2), TAB price $7.50 to $5
Race 3: Hinekaha (No 9), TAB price $9
Race 4: Stromlinien (No 11), TAB price $21
Race 5: Chilling Out (No 13), TAB price $27.
This article also appears on the NZ Herald. Click here to read it
