The 9yr-old mare was having just her second start for Crozier when she powered home from off the speed to win the listed 2400m feature.
Phillips had prepared Madam De Soir for more than 60 starts before sending her to Crozier’s Riccarton stable so she could be aimed at Saturday’s race.
“Johnny really wanted to have a crack at this race, but it wasn’t easy for him to get her ready in Winton,” Crozier told NZ Racing Desk.
“The track conditions down there made it pretty hard, and there wasn’t much else for her to work with down there.”
“I’ve got a nice team at Riccarton that she could train with on some decent tracks, so he sent her to me.”
Madam De Soir provided Crozier with his first black-type victory and was a timely boost after he was recently in hospital.
A listed win on her pedigree page was also timely for Madam De Soir as she approaches her 10th birthday and eventually, retirement.
“She’s a 9yr-old mare now, but she’s a tough old rooster,” Crozier said.
Belle Fascino won group 3 White Robe Lodge Weight-For-Age.
The Stephen Marsh-trained mare had been placed in four stakes events before breaking through to win her first group or listed event in a driving finish.
The victory handed rider Samantha Wynne victory in the biggest annual race held at Wingatui, the same track on which she suffered a career-threatening knee injury in a race fall in 2018.
Marsh was full of praise for the jockey, who works at his Riccarton stable.
“She rode a great race today. She knows the mare so well, and she’s done great work for us as the head lass at our Riccarton stable,” the trainer said.
Showemhowitsdone won her second leg of the Southern Guineas Triple Crown when claiming the listed Dunedin Guineas.
The victory backed up the Shane Kennedy and Anna Furlong-trained filly’s win in last month’s Gore Guineas.
Completing a clean sweep of the Southern Guineas Triple Crown with a victory in the Invercargill Guineas has all but been ruled out by the Kennedy-Furlong camp.
“Instead of going to the Southland Guineas, I think we’ll probably save her for a 3yr-old fillies’ race over 1400m here at Wingatui in a month’s time,” Furlong said
‘‘I think she’s definitely gone to a new level in this preparation,” Furlong said.
“She’s matured and grown a little bit, which she probably needed to do. Her head seems to be really in the game at the moment, and nothing fazes her at all.”
“She just takes everything in her stride.”
Terry Moseley has been aboard Showemhowitsdone in both her guineas victories.
