Ugly, because New Zealand's top rider knew his best chance, particularly from the horror wide barrier, was to get the long-striding mare to the centre of the track and not have to push between rivals.
Guiseppina stormed up the centre of the track and Atomic Force, wearing blinkers, may not have seen her out wide, although rider Nash Rawiller did and his asking of his horse left little room for doubt.
When Rawiller "asks" his mounts it's more of a demand.
McDonald was following Charma across the crossing and could have stayed on his back, but instead he chose to lose ground by dropping back to give her clear running in the middle of the track.
"I thought I'd rather give away two lengths to give her a clear run because I knew what she could do once she let down."
And how. Guiseppina's sprint from the back of the field and against top class opposition was spectacular. She simply flew past Atomic Force in the closing strides to score by a long neck.
This was redemption for the disappointment of striking an unsuitable wet track in the Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha at the beginning of autumn last year when the boom on Guiseppina was huge.
"She deserves the boom on her," said McDonald, "she's something special."
McDonald had a tough week wasting to ride at Guiseppina's 53kg but knew when he walked out into the Trentham birdcage late on Saturday every denial of food had been worth it.
"She looked absolutely stunning, Rambo and Julia had done a magnificent job of getting her there. The track was very firm, which she needs and I knew this was going to be her big day.
"It won't be her last either. There's more big races in store for her."
But only when the tracks are very firm.
Like a lot of very good, highly intelligent horses, Guiseppina refuses to gallop on surfaces she doesn't like and the wet she definitely doesn't like.
"Some of those tracks she was getting beaten on weren't that bad, but she wouldn't produce her best," said McDonald.
After winning major races like this jockeys, particularly, but trainers too, talk of relief rather than excitement.
McDonald spoke of it in the Trentham birdcage and so did Ramsay.
"Peter and Philip [Vela] took a real punt in giving Julia [Ritchie] and I the job as their private trainers and it's wonderful to repay them with a win like this," said Ramsay.
"We've had a problem recently with a bit of a virus in the stable, which has cleared up and it's created pressure to get this mare right for this race."
Ramsay is a Southlander by birth and served his jockeys' apprenticeship with Kelly Thompson in Invercargill.
"Peter McKay was apprenticed to Kelly at the same time and here we are training together in the Waikato. We could never have dreamed that we would both end up training group one winners."
Ramsay spent 10 years working with horses in Japan before taking a job with Te Akau Racing Stables then landed the Vela job two years ago.
Julia Ritchie, who retains her jockeys' licence, is the niece of Cambridge trainer Frank Ritchie.
The only hiccup for Peter Vela was that a back injury kept him from being at Trentham.
"I've been having problems with my back and I was just getting ready to leave in the car when he started playing [up]."
But nothing could really detract for the Vela brothers the thrill of finally getting the group one victory Guiseppina was always going to achieve.
McDonald admitted that Guiseppina was part of the jigsaw puzzle that saw him at least delay a riding contract in Australia when he was strongly tipped to head there in the spring.
"I've always had such a big opinion of this mare. When I won my first race on her I said she'd be a group one winner and I'd have hated to have missed out on this.
"The Vela family have been such an influence on my career and this is the biggest thrill I've had so far."
