In a similar pattern to her last preparation, Sorenata produced an excellent performance second-up after a decent spell to win her third race and take her earnings to almost $60,000.

Rounding the home corner, Naivasha lengthened stride beautifully rounding the field to hit the front a long way from home. And she simply kept going!

Again at Sportsbet-Ballarat, Distant Sky stepped out in the Porter Plan BM64 1200m event and was impressive in winning his third race.

Pretty Mama’s win at bet365 Park Kyneton was a convincing one, with the daughter of Pentire showing a clear liking for the extra distance of the 1850m Miranda Park Stud Maiden.

Stepping up to 1950m after two runs at 1600m and her strong closing second placing over 1850m at Kyneton four weeks early, Christie started a warm favourite at Yarra Valley and duly saluted for connections.

Nigel has been adamant for several weeks now that Distant Sky has finally matured. As a five-year-old it has been a decent wait for connections, so today’s win at Ballarat was a well-earned reward for their patience and persistance.

In recent weeks our stable runners have generally been performing very well. 21 of our last 25 runners have run top 5, including wins for Big Pat’s Pontiac and Arthurian. But it is the 10 second-placings that are proving a frustration!