KEY POINTS:
Otaki trainer Howie Mathews greeted Dorabella's return to winning form at Hawera on Saturday with relief.
Dorabella, a comfortable winner of the Group Three Hawkeye@Stoney Bridge Stakes (1400m) for fillies and mares, scored at odds of better than 12-1 in her first victory since winning the One Thousand Guineas for at Riccarton last November.
But it was more recent events which worried Mathews.
A couple of months ago the mare was bought by Auckland real estate agent Don Ha for a six-figure sum. Ha is best known in racing as the buyer of Sunline's first colt for $2 million at the yearling sales last January.
Dorabella was well beaten in her first two starts for Ha and Mathews was left to scratch his head.
"All of his (Ha's) mates were probably saying, 'you've bought a dud'," he said.
Mathews, who trains in partnership with wife Lorraine, said he did not know what to think of Dorabella's first outings, particularly the latter when she was second-last of 13 at Awapuni on September 15.
"The motor just didn't start," he said.
In hindsight Mathews believes there were probably a combination of factors contributing to the two poor showings.
"At her first start I just wonder if she jarred up a little after that run," he said.
At her second start Mathews said rider Chris Johnson might have done the wrong thing by letting Dorabella drop back to last in the running but overall the biggest factor was her heavy build.
"Because she's such a big, gross filly, I think she just needed a couple of runs and the extra work," Mathews said.
Dorabella was ridden on Saturday by Hayden Tinsley, who, the week before, had partnered her to victory in a 1000m trial at Otaki.
She had only three rivals then but Mathews said Tinsley was convinced she was on track to better form.
"He was probably more confident than I was," Mathews said.
"He got off and said she felt great and would improve with the trial."
On Saturday, Tinsley had Dorabella handy in the running throughout and after reaching the lead half-way down the straight she went on to score by 1 1/4 lengths.
Dorabella will race next in the Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham on October 27 followed by the Coupland's Mile Handicap at Riccarton on November 14.
The Captain Cook is shaping as a strong line-up, Seachange among them, but Mathews said it fitted Dorabella's programme.
"It's a great platform to go on to Christchurch as well. She needs to have the regular racing now."
Second at Hawera was outsider Venus Serena who paid $13 for a place. Three-quarters of a length back third was last year's winner Rosetti Bay whose chances were not helped when hampered in the early stages.
In the previous race, the Egmont Cup (2100m), victory went to the Peter McKenzie-trained Miles who was overlooked by most punters, despite being a proven performer in heavy ground.
Miles had also won last year's Egmont Cup but stablemate Sculptor was the favourite on Saturday and finished fourth. He remains an entry for the Melbourne Cup and McKenzie said he would probably give him another chance before deciding whether to make the trip.
- NZPA
