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A trip to Australia for Promise To Reign has been ruled out, at least in the short term, in favour of domestic festive targets.

A pre-Christmas Sydney campaign was on the radar of the four-year-old, who got home strongly for a last-start fifth in the Gr.3 OMF Stakes at Ellerslie.

“We felt she needed to win so at this stage we’re staying home,” said Moira Murdoch, who trains Promise To Reign with her daughter Kieran.

“We were confident she would be right in the finish and it was still a super run after she got terribly blocked.”

Promise To Reign broke her maiden at Te Rapa in January and at her next two appearances she finished runner-up in the Gr.2 Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic and third in the Gr.3 Sunline Vase. Her three-year-old season was closed out by a fifth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks.

“She’s a genuine stayer with a good turn of foot,” Murdoch said. “We’ll be targeting something during the Christmas carnival, there’s a few nice options for her.”

Meanwhile, it’s back to the drawing board with Marky Mark after he beat only one runner home in a Rating 85 sprint last time out at Ellerslie.

“His first-up run at Hawke’s Bay was super and then he raced too keenly so we took the blinkers off and he did the complete opposite the other day,” Murdoch said.

“I’m not quite sure about him so we’ll go back to the trials and fiddle around with the gear a bit.”

Marky Mark has proved something of an enigma and he hasn’t added to his winning record since he was successful as a two-year-old in the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes.