Victorian Ciaron Maher came of age as a top-class trainer when he guided troubled mare Srikandi to victory in the Stradbroke Hcp at Doomben on Saturday.
Srikandi ($12) took full advantage of her inside alley to shoot clear in the straight and beat Boban ($16) by 1 lengths, with along head to Generalife ($12), third.
The 4-year-old mare was an unlucky third in last year's Stradbroke and had been early favourite for this year's race on the strength of her first-up win in the Victory Stakes on the Gold Coast on April 25.
However, her campaign began to go wrong when she bungled the start in the BTC Cup and was below par in the Doomben 10,000 two weeks ago.
Maher decided hard work was the way to get Srikandi on track and he spent the week in Brisbane supervising her lead-up to the Stradbroke.
"This race was her target and a lot of people helped get her past the post first," he said.
Jockey Kerrin McEvoy said barrier one had been a great advantage for Srikandi and he had been determined to use it. "I wasn't going to let them go around me and catch me on the fence."
Glyn Schofield, who rode Boban, said the gelding did a good job considering he was giving the winner 5kg.
