Racing: Former Sydneysider shows winning form

The TAB might like to try a new betting option.

Perhaps call it "Betting On The Bend".

It could be opening the tote for 30 seconds as the field comes around the home turn.

Try your luck at seeing if you can pick the horse travelling the best.

There would have been only one you'd have wanted to be on in Race 3 at Tauranga on Saturday - the eventual winner, Arlington.

You can be wrong about these things - horses can sometimes appear to be travelling well while under a hold then fold like a pack of cards when the pressure goes on.

Arlington was not going to be one of those on Saturday.

The former better-than-useful Sydney short-distance stayer left the opposition to it in the closing stages.

The stallion son of Oaks winner Savannah Success was having just his fifth New Zealand start after plying his trade from the Rogerson barn in Sydney.

The victory did not surprise co-trainer Debbie Rogerson.

"We wanted to give him an easy 'kill' because he hadn't won a race for a while."

That was back in April last year on the Kensington track in Sydney.

At 58kg topweight, Arlington had plenty of weight, but when you analyse his record, he deserved it.

Fourteen months ago he finished fifth to Theseo in the Mackinnon Stakes at the Melbourne Cup Carnival and as a 3-year-old finished third, 1.4 lengths away, to Weekend Hussler in the Randwick Guineas.

Arlington finished a close-up third to The Pooka and Ben Hogan over 1400m at Hastings in his New Zealand debut.

"He went really, really well at the Te Aroha trials and we thought he'd go close this time," said Debbie Rogerson.

Arlington will now accompany stablemate Katie Lee to Trentham.

He will take on the Douro Cup and Katie Lee will aim at the $70,000 Desert Gold Stakes. Debbie Rogerson says Katie Lee has freshened nicely since her tough efforts in the Eight Carat Classic and Royal Stakes at Ellerslie.

"She went back to Cambridge Stud for four days and has come back looking fabulous.

"She's put on weight and looks really good."

Is Corsage ever meant to win?

You can make a case that had the gap not closed on her at the top of the home straight, she'd have won last year's $1 million Karaka Million.

Three starts back, she won the listed Ray Coupland Stakes only to lose it in the inquiry room.

At Tauranga on Saturday, she was locked in a desperate battle with Miss Sharapova and even though the other filly received a magnificent saloon rails passage, Corsage should have beaten her.

Instead, she decided to run very greenly and got herself beaten by a nose.

Mark Brosnan would love to have five-horse fields to send Veloce Bella around in every race start.

The high-class Matamata mare has suffered badly from being a back runner in big fields, often having to make up 10 to 12 lengths on the leaders in the final 400m of her races.

Saturday's four opponents made the job a lot easier.

Veloce Bella still got a fair way back off leader and hot favourite Run Like Al, but when she made her run she wasn't hampered by having to get around horses.

Coming off a 2000m Zabeel Classic back to 1600m and against a smart horse like Run Like Al didn't make the job easy.

It took forever for Veloce Bella to wind into her top sprint, but when she did she gathered in Run Like Al, who had been softened up in front.

It was a heartening result for Veloce Bella, who is a match for any of the country's stars when things go her way.