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Wayne Hillis left Ruakaka with feelings of both satisfaction and relief following Smartly’s overdue return to her best.

The Matamata trainer put a frustrating time with the six-year-old behind him when she raced to a decisive victory in the ITM Whangarei Cup on Saturday.

“Last time around she was always in form, but this time she has been quite disappointing,” said Hillis, who prepares the mare with Shaun Kesner.

“We had her back worked on three or four weeks ago so that has obviously helped.”

Such had been her efforts before Saturday that Hillis hadn’t set any longer-term goals for Smartly, who has black type to her credit with placings in the Gr.2 Japan-NZ Trophy and in the Marton Cup and Rotorua Plate (twice) at Listed level.

“Now she’s back in form we can go home and have a look around,” he said.

Smartly travelled boldly outside the leader under Grant Cooksley and they kicked clear in the run home to have two and a quarter lengths on Loves The Show at the post.

While Hillis was delighted with that effort, he was left to rue his luck in the following event when Vincent Street powered home late for third in the ITM/Gib Open 1400.

“He just stepped back as they were going to jump,” he said. “He can be a bit like that and the plan had been to ride him up handy.”

Vincent Street finished off strongly to be only a neck and a head behind the winner Illuminati, whose performance for trainer Ben Foote has seen the mare shorten to $9 in the pre-post market for next month’s Gr.3 Winter Cup at Ricccarton.