Verry Elleegant
New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse
Verry Elleegant (12 October 2015 – 18 February 2024) was a New Zealand-bred Australian-trained Thoroughbred racehorse that won 11 Group One races. She was crowned the 2020/2021 Australian Racehorse of the Year and was the winner of the 2021 Melbourne Cup and 2020 Caulfield Cup.
Background
Verry Elleegant was out of the New Zealand race mare Opulence, which was owned by her initial trainer, Nick Bishara. After Opulence won two races she was sold at the 2011 Mixed Sale at Karaka to Don Goodwin, who is the owner of Verry Elleegant's sire, Zed. The horse was named after Goodwin's granddaughter Ellee. Previously, he had named her brother "Verry Flash", adopting the "verry" spelling to be distinctive. Both Bishara and Goodwin struck up a friendship and raced Verry Elleegant until she was sold to clients of Australian trainer Darren Weir.
Racing career
2017/18: two-year-old season
Verry Elleegant made her racing debut on 7 July 2018. She finished second at Te Rapa Racecourse in New Zealand, ridden by Rowena Smyth in the Majestic Horse Floats Plate.
2018/19: three-year-old season
One month after her debut run, Verry Elleegant won her first race, a maiden, in convincing style at Ruakaka when ridden by Rowena Smyth.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Verry Elleegant” as new Zealand thoroughbred racehorse. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as new Zealand thoroughbred racehorse. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 25, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q97182742. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2015, 2024, 2020 and 2021.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Verry Elleegant”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Verry Elleegant primary sources, Verry Elleegant archive and Verry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Verry Elleegant”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Verry Elleegant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.