Trainer Ken Rae knew he had just the sort of filly he likes dealing with when he picked her up on the float on the way home from a trip away.
The Super Easy weanling had been purchased by Rae for owner Sue Martin off the gavelhouse.com site and needed to be collected from Mark and Denny Baker's Hallmark Stud. Rae was bringing home experienced gallopers Kaharau and Blanco Bay and was taken with how the filly handled herself through the process.
"Sue had asked me to bid for her on gavelhouse and I think we got her for $1500," Rae said. "I was bringing home Kaharau and Blanco Bay one day and stopped off at Hallmark to collect her. She walked straight on the float without a care in the world, which had me thinking she was my type of horse, easy to handle."
Rae took his time with the filly, now named Dream Queen, and gave her two trials before starting her over 1000m at Te Aroha on Sunday. Under the guidance of Jasmine Fawcett, Dream Queen missed away before improving along the inner to take over on the home turn and run away from her 2-year-old rivals to score by more than a length at the line.
Rae, campaigning a team on the West Coast circuit, watched the race on television and was delighted with the result.