Local filly Deploy showed her rivals a clean pair of heels as she sped away with the Marsden Cove Dental (1200m) juvenile contest at Ruakaka.
Prepared on the course by Ken Rae and his daughter Krystal Williams-Tuhoro, the daughter of Sepoy had been unbeaten in two trials before making her raceday debut at her home track in February where she was swamped in the final 75m when finishing fifth.
A narrow defeat over 970m on the Cambridge synthetic track last month indicated the filly was ready to strike and she did just that on Saturday as rider Jasmine Fawcett sent her straight to the front from barrier rise to dictate terms throughout.
Deploy shot clear turning for home and maintained a strong gallop to hit the line just under two lengths to the good of the late closing Fernandez with race favourite Pacific Dragon holding out Mighty Bright for third.
Rae believes there is plenty of ability under the bonnet of the filly but has kept her closer to home due to some wayward tendencies.
“She is very highly strung but she is fast,” he said.
“I had been thinking of taking her down south for some of those better two-year-old races down there but she can be quite mad at times and was far to wound up to send away.
“We gave her a break after her first start and I was looking for a trial for her but ended up starting her at Cambridge and she ran into a smart customer that day but went a super race.
“I said to Jasmine that if we could run in the first couple today I would be delighted and she has gone even better than I thought she might.
“It was pretty brave win as she did all the donkey work and had them well covered in the home straight.”
Rae will keep the filly to her home patch in the near future with an eye towards contesting the final of the ITM/GIB 2YO Winter Championship (1200m) on July 16, as she now sits at the top of the qualifying table for the race along with the Andrew Forsman-trained Leedox on nine points.
“I want to keep my eye on her as she can get a bit keen so we will give her a run here on July 2 and then hopefully the final a fortnight later,” he said.
“Fate seems to have smiled on us as we got her on lease off Windsor Park Stud as they bought her mother (Libraries) in foal at the Gold Coast Broodmare Sale the same year that they sold Prom Queen who we trained.
“Lightning may have struck twice as I think this filly could win a few races once she learns what it is all about.”
Rae and his daughter prepared Prom Queen to win nine of her 21 starts including four at stakes level.
The race was marred by an incident that saw first starter Lady Deb fall after clipping heels at the rear of the field during the early rush for positions. Rider Andrew Calder was knocked unconscious in the fall and was taken to hospital by air ambulance for further observation and tests.
