That played right into the hands of local wet-track specialist Sight To See in the Wyndham Cup.
The Kelvin Tyler-trained mare’s previous two victories had come on rain-affected going, and punters flocked to her when the wet weather arrived, backing her into a $3.40 favourite.
From her wide draw, she settled towards the rear of the field before apprentice jockey Amber Riddell sent her around the pack from the 800m.
She found the front within 200m and Riddell elected to continue her run out wide in the better footing.
Several runners elected to take the short cut along the rail when turning for home, but Riddell kept to her strategy and it paid off, Sight To See running out a length victor over Sefton.
"She loves the mud and I was pretty confident she would go a good race," Tyler said.
"She is a really genuine horse so it was good to get it done.
"The inside was the place to be early on and it started to get a bit chopped up. Sometimes it [going to the outside] doesn’t work and sometimes it does, but yesterday it worked well."
The daughter of Time Test had campaigned in the north in her previous two starts, finishing unplaced in both outings, including the $350,000 Remutaka Classic at Trentham.
As a result she missed out on tackling some of the earlier races in the Southern Cups Bonus Series and, while she will head to the series final, the Riverton Cup, next month, she will not be eligible for the $50,000 winner-takes-all bonus.
"Going to the Remutaka was the flipside of the coin to running in that series, so she won’t be eligible because you have got to run in three heats and that is her first one," Tyler said.
Sight To See’s victory sealed a treble at the meeting for Tyler, who was victorious earlier on the card with Better Shared and Ripa Time.
Meanwhile, stablemate Freddie Time is continuing to enjoy his time in the North Island, having won three races in the Central Districts this season and being placed in three others, including the group 3 Manawatu Cup and listed Marton Cup.
He has continued to thrive since his last-start victory over 1600m at Otaki and is set to return to Trentham later this month to tackle the group 2 Awapuni Gold Cup. — LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
By Joshua Smith
