This Saturday’s $4 million NZB Kiwi (1500m) at Ellerslie is shaping to be one for the books for Well Written (Written Tycoon), with the Stephen Marsh-trained filly drawing ideally in barrier two at Tuesday night’s barrier draw at Karaka.

In a change of theme this year, slot representatives were asked to select a rope to pull, which unveiled a banner with their draw. Marsh’s racing manager Dylan Johnson was given the honours of selecting a rope on behalf of slot holders TAB, with his selection revealing barrier two.

“We are thrilled to be in the race and have a runner of her quality in it,” Johnson said of the unbeaten Group One winner. “Despite where we drew and where we were going to jump from, we are just happy to be there.

“She has done an amazing job so far and she doesn’t have to prove any more to us. We know there is a lot of expectation around her, but as a stable we are trying to enjoy it and allow as much access to her as we can. 

“Every sport needs their Champion to follow, and people tend to gravitate towards her, and hopefully she can do us proud again on Saturday.”
Well Written galloped at Ellerslie on Monday morning and Johnson said they couldn’t have been happier with the way she worked.

“We are thrilled with the way she was on Monday,” he said. “It was a very similar preparation to what we had leading into the TAB Karaka Millions just over a month ago. Her gallop was beautiful, we are very happy with her and the way she has pulled up. 

“We won’t need to do a lot with her, she will have a slight bit of work on Thursday up the straight. It is just keeping her happy and healthy.”

Well Written was a short-priced $1.20 favourite with TAB bookmakers prior to the draw, and she hasn’t budged despite her handy barrier. 

Exciting filly Belle Cheval (NZ) (Savabeel) is a slight drifter after drawing barrier 11, but remains second favourite at $10, and Aussie raider Asakura (Churchill) got the visitors’ draw in barrier 14, which has resulted in him drifting from $14 to $18.

There have also been several other market movers, including ‘The People’s Horse’ - La Dorada (NZ) (Super Seth). The Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained Group One winner is part of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s Golden Ticket competition where 12 lucky winners will experience the thrill of racing a horse in the Southern Hemisphere’s richest three-year-old race.

Sue Drury is one of those lucky dozen, and she was entrusted to select the barrier at the draw, however, it was more ceremonial given La Dorada was the final horse to be selected, and Drury was left with barrier six, which resulted in La Dorada shortening from $18 to $14.

Drury said she is enjoying the Golden Ticket experience and she is looking forward to heading to Ellerslie on Saturday alongside her husband, who entered her for the competition, and cheer on ‘The People’s Horse’.

“My husband put my name in for it and I knew nothing about it,” Drury admitted. “This is a big surprise. He really wants to be here because he loves horse racing, so this is going to be a great weekend for him too.

“It has been amazing so far. I like her name and I think she is going to do well.”