A three-year-old full sister to the great Verry Elleegant (NZ) is slated to make her debut on Friday night at Southside Cranbourne.
The Chris Waller-trained Verry Stella (NZ) (Zed) has been accepted to contest Race 2 – a maiden event over 1300 metres.
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.
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).
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.
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’s fourth dam is the blue hen Eight Carat, who has produced five elite-level scorers – Diamond Lover, Kaapstad, Marquise, Mouawad and Octagonal.
The Zed-Opulence mating has produced a good deal of success for Goodwin, who died last December aged 86, and his fellow owners.
In 2022, Verry Flash won the Listed Rangitikei Gold Cup (1600m) at Trentham. He won 14 races and was twice placed at G3 level.
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.
Grand Prospect won four races in New Zealand and the Bob Peters-owned, John Leek Jnr-trained Affluential 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.
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.
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.”
Opulence passed away in 2022, with Verry Stella being her final foal, while Zed died in 2024.