This was a disappointing field when it had thirteen in total and then three came out due to the awful wet testing sand-slitted Te Rapa track so the pace and one other solid chance did not contest the event. Many of the ten runners left had not won for quite a while and several in the line up are in fact handicappers and not WFA proven so the race was suspect from the outset. No surprise that mares filled the top three sports as they dominate the New Zealand landscape and have for decades with so many advantages in handicapping and more races to run in and higher stakes opportunities through Bonus series. Lizzie L’Amour absolutely annihilated these and she was already a G1 winner at WFA over 2000m last year plus she can swim if need be. The 5yo mare was sitting fourth or fifth the outer as her stablemate Nicoletta set the pace and ended up running third it should be noted. Lizzie L’Amour moved up third ominously at the 600m and jogged into second at the 300m before taking over at the 200m and then she swam right away to daylight them. Her winning swim lesson was an emphatic five and a half lengths in 2:04.75 and she was recording her seventh win in nineteen starts. Over 2000m to 2400m she has raced nine times for four wins, a third and a close up fifth with the three flops being twice in Australia (one of those she had no luck) and once on real dry ground at Ellerslie. Wildflower ran on strongly for a distant second at her first G1 at WFA outing and she liked the wet ground but she is a handicapper and the depth at this universally accepted condition is very weak in New Zealand at the moment. Nicoletta did a good job in front keeping the pace not fast but consistently solid enough to ward away any rash attacks and she was rewarded with a first G1 placing albeit beaten over six lengths. Last season she ran fourth in the G1 NZ Oaks behind Bonneval, a since multiple G1 winner in New Zealand and Australia. Rangipo ran a distant fourth after sitting second the outing and in effect towing the field up to the leader and he did reach third albeit briefly at the 200m. Savvy Dreams began messily and then sat last before coming the widest turning for home and ran on distantly but she needs firmer ground to show her true closing surge. Promise To Reign was beaten a dozen lengths and the margins of defeat got more hysterical after that as if this was not a shock considering she was running on a shade. Wait A Sec, a G1 winner at WFA over 2000m last Spring at Hastings was a shocker finishing eight beaten almost seventeen lengths and that pinnacle success is looking more and more like a total fluke. Coldplay cannot stay as after sitting third she never ran on and in fact found reverse gear to finish second last beaten over twenty lengths. The footing did not help but she is so much more effective at a mile and there is a G1 fillies and mares feature in the Autumn at Te Aroha that should be her aim now. Gentil Tonton was outclassed as a handicapper and beaten almost twenty-six lengths. Lizzie L’Amour showed this field is not G1 worthy by a total shellacking and it takes a bad ride to get her beaten at Group level in New Zealand. The G1 Bonecrusher NZ Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on March 10 looks her for the taking as the WFA depth is almost non-existent in New Zealand at the moment. Savvy Dreams is a total forgive and her stablemate Wait A Sec cannot be trusted anymore so the Auckland Cup (3200m) on March 10 may be his best option now back to handicap conditions. It is not often you see a G1 WFA winner in New Zealand score by such daylight and it says more about the opposition when you factor in this mare could not win or place in four Australian starts. Lizzie L’Amour contested G2, G3 and Listed grade in Melbourne and was luckless twice but poor the other two times so reality matters.