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Richard Collett has no doubt that his progressive three-year-old Florence Hill will be at her best over a classic trip.
“She’s a 2400 metre filly and she always has been,” the Pukekohe Park trainer said. “She’s a big, rangy type so there’s a few options ahead of her.”
Florence Hill exceeded expectations when she was successful on debut at Ruakaka in October and she backed that up with a third placing against the older horses on her home course last month.“She surprised me a bit first-up, that was a bonus, and I wanted to get her on a bigger track here at Pukekohe,” Collett said.
“Unfortunately, she drew the outside over 1400 metres and she really got home well.”The stable is now keen to test Florence Hill against the best of her age group.
“We’ll probably run her at Ellerslie on Boxing Day in the Eight Carat Classic,” Collett said.“The first priority is to get some black type and I think she can do that over a mile.”
Florence Hill holds a nomination for the Gr.1 Vodafone New Zealand Derby, as does her talented stablemate Top Prospect, while the Gr.1 Wellfield New Zealand Oaks is another obvious longer-term target.Meanwhile, stablemate Selfie turned in an encouraging last-start effort for second at Ellerslie.
“That was almost two years to the day since he won his only race,” Collett said.Selfie, who also finished runner-up in the 2015 Karaka Million, has had his share of setbacks in the interim and his preparation last season was interrupted by surgery to remove a bone chip from his knee.
While he has won only one race, Selfie has earned nearly $210,000 and he will get a further opportunity at Ellerslie on Boxing Day to add to his bank account.