There was no beating around the bush in Rata’s brilliant first-up victory at Winton yesterday.
The Gore trotter was last on the inner on the home turn and looking every bit the $56 win hope the market for race 6 rated her.
But some slick manoeuvring from driver Craig Ferguson and Rata’s brilliant turn of foot showed punters were barking up the wrong tree when letting the mare go out at such long odds, as she lunged late to record an outstanding victory.
Trainer Gay McClymont admitted though she has been pleased with the way her trotter had been preparing for her return to racing, she was not expecting such a brilliant display.
"I am over the moon — I was certainly not expecting to be placing in that grade of horse.
"They are a wee bit above us and I thought we might need a run or two."
Rata has always shown potential during her short career, though she took her game to a new level when running down the leader Andy Hall, a horse who has competed in open class.
Though she has produced good efforts, the mare’s gait has not been fluent and it has looked to have held her back at times.
McClymont has been sure Rata had an issue that needed to be addressed, and she has been determined to find it.
Judging by yesterday’s win, the trainer is succeeding.
"I liked her a lot when she was young. She hasn’t really had lameness but she hasn’t been a comfortable horse.
"She has been to every vet, just about in the country, but nobody could find anything wrong with her.
"I kept saying I think it is in the shoulder and it is muscular, but they would say ‘no, no’.
"But I have been massaging her and working away with her and it must have been what the problem has been because she is going much nicer now."
Two handy workout performances showed Rata was on track for a solid return to racing at Winton.
And following some strong trackwork at Gore, McClymont was hopeful her mare was ready for a solid showing.
"When September came along I took two horses into Gore, and she had been working well around there.
"I thought if she could get around Gore she could get around Winton."
Rata reeled off plenty of trotting speed to win despite having plenty of pacing bloodlines.
Pacing sires Safely Kept and Double Century appear close up in the mare’s pedigree, which has another pacing star further back.
Rata’s fourth dam Spruce is a half-sister to multiple group 1 winner Sapling, trained in the late 1970s and early 1980s by McClymont’s late father Lionel Given.
McClymont has carried the breed on, with Rata the latest in three generations of trotting winners.
