An already stellar three-year-old season went up a notch or two at Pukekohe yesterday with the return of one star and the emergence of a genuine Derby contender.
But as good as the rare Sunday meeting was, the classic crop is set to go into overdrive in coming weeks.
Three of the seven races were won by three-year-olds with bigger targets in the offing, and the most impressive was last season’s Juvenile of the Year Maven Belle.
Having her first start since winning a Group 1 at Awapuni in April, as she missed the spring with a setback, Maven Belle was dazzling lumping 58kg to victory over 1200m, swishing from well back to a clear lead within 200m.
As the winner of five of her six starts, she would usually be close to top pick for the best of our three-year-olds, but the crop is developing into one of the deepest in years, with Legarto, Licketysplit, Sharp N Smart, Pier, Prowess, Mr Maestro and Maven Belle’s stablemate Wild Night all outstanding.