Lightly raced three-year-old Psyclone (NZ) (Rageese) opened her winning account at Rotorua on Sunday with a tidy performance to take out the Arawa Park Rotorua Hotel 3YO (1215m).
The daughter of Windsor Park Stud stallion Rageese had caught the eye when finishing fourth on debut at Woodville, despite racing greenly in the run home that day.
The John Bary-trained filly showed she had taken plenty of benefit from that experience as she never put a foot wrong for rider Joe Kamaruddin this time.
Kamaruddin had her away nicely in the six-horse field to balance up behind the speed before tracking into contention rounding the home bend.
Psyclone showed a decisive turn of foot as she shot clear against the rail to defeat Charmer, who made her run wide out while race favourite Chica Mojito battled on well for third.
Bary, who had endured a frustrating run of three minor placings on his home track at Hastings 24 hours earlier, was delighted to get a win on the board for the weekend.
“It was a little frustrating yesterday but it is nice to see the team running well,” Bary said.
“This filly went really well first up against a few horses with big reputations and I thought she had improved a lot for today.
“Her work has been good and with an inside barrier we were confident she could be hard to beat.
“She was very professional in the end and showed a really nice turn of foot to sprint through and get away from them.”
Bary is keen to test his charge in a higher grade with the Gr.3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m) at Trentham in December a likely target
“We think there is enough there to suggest she can foot it in a better grade,” he said.
“The Eulogy in December could be a nice race for her so we will take a look at a programme with that in mind over the next few weeks.
“This is also a special win for her owner Greg Miller and his wife as their property in the Esk Valley was absolutely smashed by the cyclone earlier this year, so it is nice to get a win for them.”
Out of the Savabeel mare Sensibility, Psyclone comes from an extended family of stakes performers including dual Group One winner Golden Sword, top sprinter Madam Valeta and Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) winner Royal Descent.
Bary was also thrilled with the performance of his stable star Callsign Mav (NZ) (Atlante) who went another top race to finish fifth in Saturday’s Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) at Hastings.
“He (Callsign Mav) has pulled up well after another gritty effort where he did most of the donkey work,” he said.
“He just couldn’t draw a barrier in any of those three Hastings features but he never shirked his task and it is good to see he still wants to be out there competing.
“We’ll try and work out where we go next as he still has a Group One win left in him I believe.”
