KEY POINTS:
Mark du Plessis must be the envy of rival jockeys on racetracks throughout New Zealand.
Du Plessis has been in devastating form riding 2-year-olds over the past month, including feature wins aboard The Pooka and Satinka who was an effortless front-running winner of yesterday's $120,000 Robin, Duke Of
Bedford Matamata Breeders Stakes.
He must now decide between The Pooka or Satinka who clash in the $175,000 (Group One) Ford Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie on March 10.
The Pooka was a staggering debut winner at Trentham last month before finishing second behind class filly Crossyourheart. The Pooka returned to winning form last Saturday with a determined victory at New Plymouth.
Satinka handled the massive jump in class when powering straight to the front yesterday and was never tested sprinting clear in the home stretch to win by 2 1/2 lengths over Liatris. A further three-quarters of a length away in third was Khepri.
The favourite Crossyourheart may have disappointed punters with her battling performance to finish fourth - but there was a valid excuse - as she suffered a horrific bleeding attack.
Under the circumstances, Crossyourheart's performance underlines her class and toughness. The filly will now have a lengthy spell following a magical debut season for trainers Richard Collett and Shane Hapeta.
The victory was a popular one for Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott who have handled the speedy Stravinsky-sired filly patiently.
That patience was rewarded with a clear-cut victory against the best fillies currently racing in New Zealand.
* Jim Collett had some scary news for rival trainers after the $60,000 feature race for 2-year-old colts and geldings at Matamata yesterday.
The trainer-jockey is targeting the Ford Diamond Stakes with impressive colt El Cuento.
The son of Tale of the Cat produced plenty of courage in the home stretch to post a determined half-length victory over the favourite Pierre Joseph and D'Elcatraz (third).
"This was his first race start in five weeks so there's plenty of improvement in him and he was impressive enough winning today," said Collett.
"I'll have him screwed down to be a very fit racehorse in two weeks time for the Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie and he'll be very competitive in that Group One race."
Collett gave El Cuento a dream sit in second position throughout the running of the 1200m event and was impressed about the colts finishing burst in the home stretch.
Collett was lucky to get El Cuento to train in the first place as the colt was purchased as a potential ready-to-run 2-year-old by his owners, including bloodstock agent Paul Beamish.
"The owners purchased him from the Magic Millions Sale on the Gold Coast and originally they were going to have him prepared for the ready-to-run 2-year-old sale but they changed their mind.
"He was given to me to educate and one thing led to another and we're now in the position of having a 2-year-old with a realistic winning shot at winning a Group One race."