Tony Pike will have four runners at the Ellerslie's Boxing Day meeting, with Embers, a well-bred two-year-old filly by Darci Brahma (pictured), set to debut in the Stella Artois 1100.

“She looks a really nice filly,” Pike said. “We were tempted to run her at Taranaki on Friday for an easy kill, but lucky we didn’t as they cancelled that race.

“I threw a nom in for Ellerslie and she’s come up with the perfect gate for a two-year-old on debut in barrier two.

“She’s only had the two trials this time in and she was really impressive at Te Aroha. She’s still learning and she’ll take a lot experience from the run. There are no winners in the race and I would suggest off the barrier trial form she should be competitive on debut.”

Embers is owned and raced by The Oaks Stud, being out of the Group 2 winning mare Smoulder.