The Matamata Racing Club celebrated its centenary this week, and fittingly the locals were to the fore in the first race on the card – the $22,500 Valachi Downs 1600.
Taming The Shrew is trained on the track by Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott and was ridden by their apprentice Taiki Yanagida.
Her 15-strong ownership group includes some Matamata locals, and she is a daughter of the local Rich Hill Stud stallion Shocking. Runner-up Effervescent is by the late Rich Hill icon Pentire.
A winner of one of her previous four starts, Taming The Shrew stepped up to Saturday class this afternoon with a stylish win.
After sitting in fourth-last position, she swooped around the outside and surged to victory by a head from Effervescent. The Helix, who dived through along the inside, was another head away in third.
“This was Taiki’s first ride back from a month suspension, so it’s great to see him straight back into it,” Scott said.
“He set this filly alight at the 700 and she was four deep turning in, but she kept up a strong gallop to win the race. She appreciated getting her toe into the ground a little bit today. A three-year-old filly beating older horses – it was a good performance.
“She’s still nominated for the Oaks (March 16). We thought about running in the Lowland Stakes on Wednesday, but this was on our back doorstep and we thought we’d take advantage of rain-affected ground.
“The Oaks might come around a little bit too quickly for her. She’s also in the Australian Oaks, so who knows? We’ll keep pressing on, give her a run over a bit more ground and see.”
