Dynamic trotter Dark Horse did not let a lack of match fitness, the testing nature of yesterday's wet Forbury Park surface or her 60m handicap stop her from making a winning return to racing yesterday.
Not only did she shrug off everything that was against her, she cruised to the line with ease in an effort that impressed her trainer-driver, Nathan Williamson.
''I'm rapt with that.''
Williamson had taken a cautious approach as he had been playing a waiting game between not wanting to step Dark Horse out until she was ready to race, while at the same time needing to have her ready and qualified for next month's Dominion.
''I have just been waiting on her condition to come right and for her coat to bloom,'' he said.
''The last 10 days she has really picked up.''
Making it even tougher for Williamson to juggle the horse's campaign is Dark Horse's somewhat lack-lustre trackwork at home.
''At home she doesn't really do anything outstanding. She probably just does it a lot easier than others, but she just does what she has to.
''Then she gets to races and she has just got a different motor to anything I have driven before.''
Making her first public appearance in tricky conditions is a big ask for any horse, but the athletic trotter did it with ease, then, remarkably, pulled up barely taking a breath.
''She has pulled up great, for her first-up run. I thought she would have had a bit of a blow, but she's not.''
Dark Horse had not raced since June.
Williamson wants the mare to take her next step towards the Dominion at Addington on November 3.
After than she could go straight into the Dominion on Show Day or possibly race in the New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All on Cup Day before her Dominion tilt.
''She will go to Addington in 10 days time and then into the Dominion, but we will just see. We don't have any real fixed plan at this stage. We are not sure whether we will race on Cup Day or not yet.''
Many of Dark Horse's potential rivals in those two feature races will clash in today's Ashburton Trotters Flying Mile.
A handy barrier 2 draw has resulted in Wilma's Mate being installed the favourite over Great Things Happen, who lines up from the tricky starting spot of barrier 7, and Habibti Ivy, who starts from barrier 4 on the second row.
The race will also mark the return of star trotter Stent, who has his first start in December 2015.
In the Ashburton Flying Stakes, the Steve Telfer-trained No Doctor Needed and Robbie Burns, trained by Robert Dunn, take on six pacers from the Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen All Stars stable.
Their attack is headed by Lazarus, who returned to racing in style by winning last month's Canterbury Classic.
In the same race, Heaven Rocks flopped as a short-priced favourite. He was found to be suffering from greasy heal. A good run today will get his New Zealand Cup campaign back on track. As well as Lazarus he is is up against stablemates Have Faith In Me, Dream About Me, Waikiki Beach and Piccadilly Princess.
