HORSE OF THE YEAR AWARDS CONTENDERS: Many stars in three-year-old crop
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • July 11th, 2025 1:30 PM • 7 min read
A crowded three-year-old category for New Zealand’s Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards has been common in recent seasons, and that trend could continue with plenty of well-credentialled contenders among the class of 2024-25.
The three-year-old category for last season’s awards had six finalists, with the winner Orchestral joined by Antrim Coast, Crocetti, Molly Bloom, Pulchritudinous and Quintessa.
Two years earlier, the crop of 2021-22 produced a whopping nine three-year-old finalists – Asterix, Belle En Rouge, La Crique, Noverre, Pinarello, Self Obsession, Sword Of State, The Perfect Pink and the winner Imperatriz.
The number of finalists for this season remains to be seen, but from spring to autumn, from 1200 to 2400 metres and on both sides of the Tasman, there has been no shortage of performances worthy of recognition.
The daughter of Alabama Express came into her three-year-old season with a win and a Gr. 2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes second placing to her name from her only two starts. A year later she has still never finished further back than second, with her seven starts as a three-year-old producing five wins and two runner-up finishes.
Matamata trainers Ken and Bev Kelso kicked Alabama Lass off with an easy win at Taupo on August 21. She stepped up to stakes level a couple of weeks later with another smart performance in the Gr. 3 Gold Trail Stakes. That 1200-metre fillies’ feature at Hastings ended up being one of the form races of the three-year-old season, with placegetters Captured By Love and Damask Rose both going on to bigger and better things – more on them later.
Alabama Lass stepped up to 1400 metres and won again in the Gr. 2 Soliloquy Stakes at Ellerslie, earning herself a trip to Christchurch for a shot at the Gr. 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas. The 1600-metre distance was expected to be at the limit of her capabilities, and on testing rain-affected ground it proved to be just beyond her reach. But she still ran a gallant second behind Captured By Love.
The Kelsos have previously turned 1000 Guineas defeat into sprinting success in the Gr. 1 Railway with the high-class Bounding in 2014, and they followed the same blueprint with Alabama Lass. Striking another unsuitable wet track on Karaka Millions night in January, Alabama Lass produced another gallant effort for a close second – beaten by a short head by Crocetti.
That result was emphatically reversed in the Gr. 3 King’s Plate on Champions Day in March, where Alabama Lass blasted clear of Crocetti in the straight to win by five and a quarter lengths. She then headed over to Melbourne for a successful hit-and-run raid on the Listed HKJC World Pool Classic over 1100 metres at Flemington, opening up options on both sides of the Tasman for her four-year-old season.
Alabama Lass was bought by Ken Kelso for A$120,000 from the 2023 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale. She has turned that into $949,743 in prize-money.
A regular rival for Alabama Lass has been Te Akau Racing’s Captured By Love. She handed Alabama Lass her first defeat in the Gr. 2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes as a two-year-old, then ran second when that result was flipped in the Gold Trail Stakes. After strong-finishing placings against male three-year-olds in the Gr. 2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas and Sarten Memorial, Captured By Love conquered Alabama Lass again to take out the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton.
The seventh 1000 Guineas winner for Te Akau, Captured By Love was bought by David Ellis for A$525,000 from the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. The daughter of Written Tycoon has now had 13 starts for five wins, five placings and $729,236 in stakes.
Captured By Love’s spring heroics would ordinarily earn her pride of place among Te Akau’s three-year-old fillies, but Damask Rose well and truly stepped out of her stablemate’s shadow during the summer months.
Damask Rose’s two starts as a two-year-old last season produced a debut victory and an eye-catching second in the Karaka Millions 2YO. She returned to that Ellerslie twilight extravaganza 12 months later and went one better, powering home from fourth-last to score an emphatic victory over Tuxedo and Dealt With in the $1.5 million Karaka Millions 3YO.
That earned the Savabeel filly the opportunity to race for a piece of history in the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi on Champions Day – the first thoroughbred slot race ever run in New Zealand. Damask Rose was equal to the task, capitalising on a dream rails run under Blake Shinn to go from last to first and into New Zealand racing folklore.
Damask Rose was bred by Tony Rider and is a full-sister to his homebred mare Provence, who remarkably was a Group One winner of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes on that same Champions Day card. David Ellis bought Damask Rose for $200,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2023. Her spectacular wins in two of New Zealand’s richest races lifted her earnings to $2.2 million from a seven-start, four-win career.
The other standout filly in New Zealand this season was the pride of Taranaki, Leica Lucy. The daughter of Derryn was raced by her breeders Heather and Peter Crofskey – later joined by prominent Australian owner Ozzie Kheir – and blazed a trail through three-year-old fillies’ races in the lower North Island between December and March.
She strung together a superb sequence of victories in the Gr. 3 Eulogy Stakes, Gr. 3 Desert Gold Stakes, Gr. 2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic, Gr. 2 Lowland Stakes and Gr. 1 New Zealand Oaks, then headed to Chris Waller’s stable in Sydney and finished fourth in a slowly run Gr. 1 Australian Oaks.
The Savabeel colt was bought by The Oaks Stud for $400,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2023, and his 15-race career has produced seven wins, four placings and more than $1.2 million in stakes.
Savaglee won five of his eight starts in a superb three-year-old season, starting with a win at Taupō in August and a strong-finishing second to Poetic Champion in the Listed El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy at Hastings. He was an unstoppable force through the rest of the spring, winning the Gr. 2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas and Gr. 2 Sarten Memorial before blowing his rivals away by almost three lengths in the Gr. 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas.
After resuming with an effortless win in the Gr. 2 Levin Classic at Trentham in January, the Pam Gerard-trained Savaglee ran third against older horses in the Gr. 1 BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa and was a gallant second behind Feroce in the Gr. 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington.
The other big name among New Zealand’s male three-year-olds this season was Willydoit. The son of Tarzino was bought by trainers Shaun and Emma Clotworthy for $75,000 as a yearling at Karaka, and he provided the ride of a lifetime for thousands of owners in a MyRacehorse micro-share syndicate.
Willydoit ran third on debut in November and won four of his next five starts, culminating in a supreme staying performance to take out the Gr. 1 New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie in March. He later tackled the Gr. 1 Australian Derby at Randwick, where he endured a tough wide run and finished fourth.
