Elvstroem filly firing in New Zealand

Elvstroem filly Britt Ekland earned a step up to black-type company after completing a winning hat-trick in New Zealand on Saturday.

The athletic daughter of Blue Gum Farm sire Elvstroem was coming off a running double at Ellerslie in May to win the Fell Engineering Hcp (1400m) at Ruakaka.

Britt Ekland (3f Elvstroem – Sidestar by Red Ransom) settled behind front-runner One Cool Message before clicking into gear for a convincing victory as the even-money favourite.  Winning jockey Danielle Johnson came back to scale glowing about how well she had gone in what was her toughest test to date.

Co-trainer Dawn Williams, who prepares the filly with husband Peter from their Byerley Park base at Karaka, is enthusiastic about the future.  “She has strengthened up nicely but still has a way to go before she is fully furnished,” Dawn noted.  “She will now go to the paddock for a few weeks and that will set her up nicely for the spring.”

Connections have the LR Canterbury Breeders Stakes (1400m) at Riccarton in November as her major target.

Britt Ekland was bred by Wood Nook Stud’s Bob Scarborough and was sent ‘in utero’ to New Zealand in April 2010.  Her dam Sidestar (USA) was a Juddmonte Farms homebred and second-dam Yenda was a stakes winner in France and the USA.  She was a daughter of Juddmonte superstar Dancing Brave.

Elvstroem (Danehill) has sired 75 winners of 138 races for earnings of $3.36 million in Australia this season.  Blue Gum Farm will stand him for a $4,400 (inc gst) fee in 2014.