Daffodil In Fine Fettle (January 22 2010)

Crack mare Daffodil hasn't missed a beat in her build-up toward an autumn campaign in Australia. The WS-bred and owned four-year-old thrived during a spell at the Matamata farm and is now progressing to order under trainer Kevin Gray's guidance at Copper Belt Lodge.

"She looks absolutely magnificent - I think she's grown and really matured into a lovely mare," Mark Chittick said. Daffodlil was turned out after the Melbourne Cup, in which she had little luck in the running. She was involved in a scrimmage on the turn and did well to recover to finish 11th.

It drew the curtain on her successful spring campaign which netted last season's NZ Filly of the Year the Gr 1 Windsor Park Plate, a fourth in the Gr 1 Kelt Capital Stakes at Hastings where she finished well after clearing a pocket late in the straight and then filled a similar placing in the Gr 1 Caulfield Cup.

"She'll have a fairly light autumn campaign and have a couple of runs here and then she'll go to Australia for the Australian Cup and/or the BMW Stakes," Chittick said. Her New Zealand programme is likely to include the Gr 1 Otaki-Maori WFA on February 28.