Former southerner Silhouette Noire showed her penchant for left-handed racing when she turned her form around at Te Rapa.
The five-year-old tailed the field home at her previous appearance in the Listed Tauranga Classic, but trainer Lee Somervell was expecting major improvement from the mare yesterday.
"She's still got to prove that she can handle the right-handed way of going," the Cambridge horseman said.
"She became unbalanced at Tauranga from the 800 metre mark and into the straight and Trudy didn't knock her around when she wasn't in it so she freshened up nicely for this."
Thornton was again in the saddle at Te Rapa where she stalked the pacemaker before staying closer to the rail into the straight and Silhouette Noire responded gamely to claim a narrow victory.
