Has History Already Been Written at Ellerslie?

A remarkable unbeaten filly will carry more than just the colours of a powerhouse owner when she steps out in Saturday’s $4 million NZB Kiwi at Ellerslie, with a large group of enthusiastic co-owners eagerly anticipating another chapter in a story that has already delivered a string of high-profile victories. Among the headline contenders for the running of the 1500m feature is Well Written, the daughter of Written Tycoon's rise through the ranks has been swift and emphatic. While Yulong Investments holds the controlling interest in the filly, loveracing.nz reports the ownership structure extends well beyond a single entity, with a total of 16 individual interests sharing in the ride. Prepared by Stephen Marsh, the Group 1-winning three-year-old arrives at Ellerslie unbeaten from five starts, a sequence that has steadily elevated her profile on both sides of the Tasman. Yulong secured its stake after she captured the Gr2 Soliloquy Stakes over 1400m last October, and the filly has continued to repay that confidence with a series of major wins. Since then, she has compiled a notable Group race hat-trick, landing the Gr1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas over 1600m before adding the Gr2 Auckland Guineas and the rich Karaka Millions 3YO over the same trip. Those performances have transformed the filly into one of the most exciting young horses in training while delivering an unforgettable experience for her extended group of owners. For Greg Pope, a member of the 8 Mates Syndicate, the journey began much earlier when shares were purchased in the filly as a yearling. What followed has been a mixture of racing success and camaraderie, with friendships forming among a diverse ownership group. “There is a large ownership group with a lot of friends, and we have made a lot of new friends along the way,” Pope said. “8 Mates have had horses with Stephen before. We are a bunch of guys around retirement age that have been mates for years. We are not in it for the money, we are only a small shareholder in the horse, and it’s all about going to the races with mates and having some fun. We all head to the races with our wives and get to go on a trip somewhere and this horse has taken us on those trips.” Having spent three decades working for equine airfreight company IRT before recently retiring, Pope has long been immersed in the industry, though few experiences have matched the scale of this campaign. “We have raced horses with Stephen Marsh and Chris Waller, and we had a horse called Gold Rush with Lance O’Sullivan who won the Matamata Breeders’,” he said. “During summer around the bar leaner at Whangamata we were told we needed to be in on this horse, so we bought a piece of her. So far, so good, and the journey she has taken us on has been a lot of fun.” The syndicate’s enjoyment has been heightened by the friendships formed with fellow owners, many of whom met for the first time on the eve of the New Zealand 1000 Guineas. “In advance of the 1000 Guineas we teed up on the Friday night down in Christchurch that we all met each other at a bar,” Pope said. “We have now got a great group of people that we can talk to easily and each race those relationships get stronger and stronger. We are fortunate to be with a group of good people.”

Well Written is world class (pic: Race Images Kenton Wright)