Filly ready for strong first-up showing

Stolen Night isn’t the finished article yet, but she is forward enough to make her presence felt at Pukekohe Park on Wednesday.

The Keeper filly will resume in the New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Pearl Series Race and trainer Paul Mirabelli is expecting the three-year-old to give a good account of herself.

“She’s quite promising and I’ve rated her from day one, but she’s not quite there yet physically or mentally,” he said.

Stolen Night finished a respectable fifth on debut at Te Teko in January and was then runner-up at Wanganui, after racing three wide without cover, before she was given a break.

She finished second in a recent trail at Cambridge for Samantha Collett, who will take the reins again on Wednesday.

“She can gallop and she’s looking good for the future,” Mirabelli said. “She’s got a tremendous amount of speed, but I’d like to see her take a sit behind them if possible.”

Meanwhile, stablemate and stakes performer Big Dreamer is enjoying a break following a last-start fifth at Trentham.

“She got quite stressed out down there and didn’t eat for a week afterwards,” Mirabelli said.

“She’s in the paddock and we’ll have her back for the spring. She’s got plenty of ability, but she can be quite tricky – she’s a highly strung mare.”

The winner of four races, Big Dreamer ran third in the Gr.3 Thomson Handicap in the spring and she also finished a close fifth in the Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes.