Flemington trainers Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra were pleased to see talented mare Mrs Beckham (NZ) (Toronado) show her best when successful at Bendigo on Wednesday as she notched her third career victory.
The four-year-old, who sports the colours of breeder Kevin Hickman’s Valachi Downs has not been far away in stakes company but has been rejuvenated after a couple of below par runs by spending time in a rural environment.
“She didn’t quite come up after her run at Sandown and then she was pretty average at her next couple of starts,” Zahra said.
“So we sent her up to the farm, just gave her three weeks up there so her coat can come out a bit. Her two runs back since then have been outstanding.
“We’re trying new things and the freshen ups really seem to be working with a lot of our horses. You can keep them up longer, you can run them for nine or ten months of the year now just with freshen ups and things like that.
“That was a confidence booster so we’ll find a race maybe at Sandown or just wait and get her through the summer and get a bit of prizemoney.”
Mrs Beckham is well named as the daughter of Toronado and the Zabeel mare Posh (NZ) (Zabeel).
She trialed twice for Matamata horseman Stephen Autridge before crossing the Tasman and has now had 12 starts for the Ellerton and Zahra team, with a couple of placings to go with her three wins.
