Last season's champion two-year-old Avantage was back doing what she does best when she opened her three-year-old season with a dogged winning performance at Hastings.
The Fastnet Rock filly was only beaten once in six starts during her juvenile campaign where she captured the rich Listed Karaka Million (1200m) before going on to score at group one level in the Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes (1400m).
Put aside following that Awapuni triumph, the Jamie Richards-trained filly resumed with a quiet run at the Te Rapa trials last month before tackling yesterday's group three Hawke's Bay Breeders Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) as her season opener.
After securing the coveted one barrier draw Avantage was sent out a warm favourite by punters with the well fancied local filly Xpression expected to pose her biggest threat.
That scenario played out exactly as predicted as the pair set down to a tooth and nail struggle over the final stages of the contest with Avantage putting her head in front where it mattered most to score a narrow victory.
