Racing: Trainer seeks better fortune

Cambridge trainer Lee Somervell is hoping his stable star Fleur de Lune can go one better than 12 months ago and end her campaign on a winning note at Rotorua's Arawa Park on Saturday.

Fleur de Lune promises to be the favourite in the listed $50,000 Windsor Park Stud Rotorua Stakes, the fillies and mares' weight-for-age 1400m in which she finished a game second last year.

The telling factor for Fleur de Lune 12 months ago was the 9kg she had to give to the winner, the Graeme and Debbie Rogerson-trained Dowager Queen, who as a 2-year-old had to carry a mere 46kg. She went down by three-quarters of a length in heavy ground.

This time she will carry 57kg and with no distinct weight pull from any other runner, she has a better chance of succeeding.

"She's absolutely spot on," said Somervell.

"She had her last sprint up [last Tuesday] and I was very happy with the way she worked."

Fleur de Lune started her racing career at Arawa Park, clearing out on her rivals in a maiden 1200m in January last year to win by 4 lengths.

Since that debut, she has raced 15 times for a further three wins and nine placings and she has boosted her stake earnings to $187,525. Victory on Saturday will see her sweep past $200,000.

Fleur de Lune has proved she is up to the best company, having picked up four group one placings.

She has twice been placed in the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes at Te Aroha - third last year and the closest of seconds behind Say No More last month - and she has finished third in the Makfi Challenge Stakes at Hastings and the Manco Easter Handicap at Ellerslie.

Somervell was originally considering turning Fleur de Lune out for a spell after the Easter Handicap placing behind Veyron, but decided to press on for this Rotorua feature.

"I did also think about running her in the Travis Stakes after the Easter, but that would have been too much," he said.

"It was better to wait for this one, then she can go out. She should be in for a good year next season.

"She will be that much stronger."

Fleur de Lune will be ridden again by Jason Jago on Saturday. The former South African jockey is the only one to have won on the Stravinsky mare.

The opposition for Fleur de Lune in the Windsor Park Stud Rotorua Stakes will include two members of the Awapuni stable of Lisa Latta - Sacha and Zennista.

Sacha, a winner of nine races and $167,000 in prizemoney, finished third in the corresponding event last year and was a late-start fourth behind Double Barrel at Hastings.

Zennista, the runner-up to Midnight Oil in last year's New Zealand Oaks, won over 1600m at Trentham last month and, like Sacha, she will appreciate the wet ground.