The New Zealand thoroughbred racing industry breathed a collective sigh of relief when the gates crashed open for the first on the card at Pukekohe on Sunday after a horror week that saw race meetings abandoned on four separate occasions.
The fickle winter weather put paid to meetings at Hastings on Thursday and both Rotorua and New Plymouth on Saturday whilst a failure with the vehicle designated to tow the starting gates to Pukekohe on Wednesday saw that meeting also abandoned, with the replacement date set down for Sunday.
Thankfully the meeting went ahead on the Heavy 10 surface and was kicked off with a hard-fought win by race favourite Sulabella for Ruakaka trainer and part-owner Michelle Bradley.
Sent out at odds of $2.30 on the tote, rider Kelly Myers had the daughter of Proisir situated beautifully in the slipstream of pacemaker Night Warrior throughout before issuing her challenge shortly after straightening.
Sulabella strode clear but the toll of her 58kg impost began to tell on her in the closing stages as lightweight Jakama Krystal, carrying 8kgs less, began to eat into her lead however the winning post came up in time as Sulabella held on by half a length, with Night Warrior battling into third six lengths further astern.
Bradley, who brought two runners to the meeting, was delighted to strike early on the programme as she had been worried about the very heavy nature of the track.
"It is very testing out there which is a bit different to home as we have been going around on a Good 4 lately," Bradley said.
"She doesn't need heavy tracks but can get through them ok and she did that well today.
"She had been going nice races in behind them, so we took her to Rotorua last start where she won and took a heap of confidence from that.
"It wasn't originally the plan to come here but when we saw the nominations we took a punt, and it paid off.
"We will take her home now and see how she pulls up as there are still a few meetings left up there over the winter months.
"We may not back her up at the 3 August meeting but there is a lovely race for her over 1600m a fortnight later which will suit her depending on how the handicapper treats her for this win."
Bred by Cam and Eva Heron of Highline Thoroughbreds, Sulabella is out of the Conatus mare Amiga Mia and was purchased for $12,000 by Bradley out of Highline's Book 2 Yearling Sale draft at Karaka in 2020.
She has now won five of her 26 starts and just under $97,000 in prizemoney.