"He was four and five away from the fence across the junction and the jockeys were saying that it was quite off out there," Rayner said.
"He's the sort of horse that if something upsets him he doesn't try an inch."
Start Wondering was in contention at the top of the straight before dropping out to beat only two runners home.
For piece of mind, Rayner had Start Wondering fully vetted on his return home.
"We got him fully checked out, the vet went all over him and couldn't find anything physically wrong at all," he said.
The connections of La Diosa are determined to keep the valuable mare to a light schedule this season.
"We've always said that we were never going to over-race her as a four-year-old, she's got nothing to prove," said Mandy Brown, who trains the Group One winner with her husband Matt.
"We'll take her through an easy season and then see how she comes up as a five-year-old."
Last term, La Diosa won the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) after Listed successes in the Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) and the Barneswood Farm Stakes (1400m).
She subsequently headed to Sydney where she added the Gr.2 Surround Stakes (1400m) to her record.
La Diosa has only been out three times since her return from Sydney and was spelled after her last-start sixth in the Gr.2 Coupland's Bakeries Mile (1600m) in the spring.
"She performed creditably and we were happy enough with her run," Brown said. "She's back in work now and doing well. She'll trial at Ashburton on February 20, but we've yet to set any plan after that."
Meanwhile, promising stablemate Greenpark Gem will be back in action at Riccarton on Saturday week.
To get the day's top sports stories in your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here
- NZ Racing Desk
