Smart filly chasing southern honours

Lightly-tried filly Midnight Gossip will warm up for future black type assignments when she resumes at Wingatui on Boxing Day.

The Nigel Tiley-trained three-year-old remained in the south following her meritorious effort for fourth behind La Diosa in the G.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas at Riccarton in November.

“We left her down in Christchurch with Brian Court, who has her ticking over toward that southern series of races,” Tiley said.

“She’ll have a run on Boxing Day and then all going well she’ll head toward the Gore Guineas.

“We’ll probably miss the middle one – the Dunedin Guineas is a bit of a close back-up, although we’ll see how she’s doing – and then we’ll have a look at the Southland Guineas.”

Midnight Gossip, who will be ridden by Samantha Wynne in the Speight’s at Wingatui, beat the subsequent stakes winner Astara on debut last season. She was then turned out after an unplaced run in the Gr.1 Diamond Stakes.

Tiley opted to send the daughter of Showcasing to the South Island in the early spring to avoid the wet weather at home and she responded with a first-up defeat of the older horses before her brave performance in the 1000 Guineas.

“If the track at Riccarton had been a little better then she might have run a bit closer, the ground just got a bit shifty,” he said.