WELL WRITTEN GUINEAS FINALE

Trainer Marsh’s maiden GI NZ 1000 Guineas gong could not have been scripted any better

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Jockey Matt Cartwright saluting the crowd as he steers rising star Well Written to a resounding win in the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton on Nov 8. The filly's win gave Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh, son of ex-Kranji trainer Bruce Marsh, a first win in the mile feature.

(AJAY BERRY (RACE IMAGES SOUTH))

CHRISTCHURCH - Stephen Marsh had to wait until the 24th season of his career to win his first Group 1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1,600m), but an emerging superstar gave the Cambridge trainer his missing piece at Riccarton on Nov 8 with a performance that was worth every moment of that wait.

Well Written joined Legarto (2022) and Seachange (2005) as only the third unbeaten winner of the 1000 Guineas in the last 20 years, and her three scintillating victories have come by a combined margin of more than 12 lengths.

It has been a dizzying rise to the top of the three-year-old crop for Well Written, who began her career with a three-length debut win over 1,200m at Ellerslie on Sept 20.

The athletic chestnut then stepped into stakes company for the Group 2 Soliloquy Stakes (1,400m) at the same venue on Oct 18. Undaunted by the tougher task at hand, she blew her rivals away by 6 ½ lengths.

Those two breathtaking performances made Well Written one of the highest-profile runners of the entire New Zealand Cup Carnival in Christchurch in 2025, and she jumped as a red-hot favourite for the NZ$600,000 (S$439,000) showpiece at $7.