KEY POINTS:
For two years trainer Wayne Hillis scratched his head for how to get perpetual placegetter Dezigna to win a race.
Then a friend had a suggestion.
"When he got beaten a nose by Everswindell at Matamata recently a friend said: 'Why don't you show him what the winner's
stall looks like, it might make a difference'.
"So, on the Monday morning when I brought him to the Matamata track I walked him into the birdcage and into the winner's stall," said Hillis.
"He won his first race in more than two years after that, so yesterday morning I walked him into the same winner's stall at home at Matamata."
The result was victory in yesterday's $120,000 Rich Hill Mile at Ellerslie.
There is not much chance Dezigna will not be shown the same stall again before he heads off to Trentham for the $200,000 Telegraph and $200,000 Thorndon Mile.
Whether the auto-suggestion has been the total reason for the turnaround Hillis is unsure, but he knows he suddenly has a different horse on his hands.
"I ride him every day of his life and lately he's been completely different.
"Now, when he gets to his second round of pacework he gets right up on the bit and shows real keenness.
"He used to be very relaxed.
"At least now he's conquered his fear of winning."
Dezigna is one of those horses that finishes off better from a fast pace in top class fields. The harder they go the better he'll hit the finish.
Yesterday once Opie Bosson aimed him into the clear he pounced on the leader Sir Slick and fought him hard to win narrowly.
"We had the perfect run from the outside gate and in the closing stages the field opened up in front of him," Bosson said.
"It'd be nice if it always happened that way."
The win was deserved for Emma Evans, who puts a lot into racehorse ownership. Dezigna is one of those horses that could break an owner's heart and Evans had to endure two years of it before her luck turned.
A rejuvenated Dezigna is a realistic chance in the two Trentham group one races.
When he was not the horse he is today he finished second to Gee I Jane in last year's Telegraph and the year before he was third in the same race to Keeninsky.
"He had no luck in the Thorndon last year - he got barrelled by horses either side of him all the way down the home straight," said Hillis.
Jockey David Walsh said the favourite Gaze raced too keenly.