For the first time in four years, the NZB Filly of the Year Series is still well and truly alive heading into its grand finale – the $1m Group One Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m).
The winner of the Oaks will earn 12 points in the NZB Filly of the Year Series, with 7 points for second and 3.5 points for third.
With 10 of the 11 races run and won, the table is currently headed by Well Written (Written Tycoon) and Lollapalooza (NZ) (El Roca) with 20 points each. Both of that pair earned their points through the first four legs of the series and have played no further part since the New Year.
That has left an opening for a standout staying filly to make a late charge, and Ohope Wins (NZ) (Ocean Park) looks the most likely to fit that bill. Her last two starts have produced highly impressive come-from-behind wins in the Group Two Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m) and Group Two David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2100m). She now sits on 16 points and is well within striking range. A top-two finish in the Oaks will clinch her the title.
Consistent big-race performer Tajana (NZ) (Darci Brahma) has 10 points and can also claim the title with an Oaks victory, provided Ohope Wins finishes further back than second. Taranaki filly Ultimate Habit (NZ) (Embellish) has 8 points and could end up as a joint Filly of the Year winner alongside Well Written and Lollapalooza if she triumphs in the Oaks and Ohope Wins finishes outside the top two.
All of this is a very different story to the last three seasons. In 2025, the season’s standout filly Leica Lucy (NZ) (Derryn) went into the Oaks with 28 points to her name and an unassailable lead in the Filly of the Year Series. She lifted that tally to 40 with her Oaks triumph, becoming one of just a handful of fillies to reach 40 points in the NZB Filly of the Year Series.
In the previous two seasons, Molly Bloom (NZ) (Ace High) and Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) did not run in the Oaks but were guaranteed Filly of the Year winners with uncatchable tallies of 28 and 26 points respectively. The Oaks victories by Pennyweka (NZ) (Satono Aladdin) and Pulchritudinous (NZ) (Wrote) in those two seasons lifted both of that pair to second place on the Filly of the Year podium.
The last time the Oaks proved decisive in the Filly of the Year standings was in 2022, when Belle En Rouge (NZ) (Burgundy) won the Oaks and surged to 31 points, which was enough to share the coveted title with her stablemate Self Obsession (NZ) (Shocking).
The very much alive NZB Filly of the Year Series race is not the only distinctive feature of this year’s New Zealand Oaks. The 2400-metre fillies’ classic has also been moved from Trentham to Ellerslie, and has shifted into February after being held in the second half of March for the last two decades.
This new position on the calendar, which will be reviewed at the end of the season, has been chosen with the goal of encouraging the country’s leading staying fillies to contest both the Oaks and the Group One New Zealand Derby (2400m). The Derby will be run over the same course and distance on Champions Day, two weeks after the Oaks.
“The new February timing at Ellerslie strengthens pathways for fillies, creates synergy with the Derby two weeks later, and gives New Zealand’s classic calendar better alignment with Australia's autumn features,” Auckland Thoroughbred Racing’s CEO Paul Wilcox said at the time the change was announced.
The Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks will be run as Race 8 at Ellerslie on Saturday, with a scheduled start time of 4.38pm
