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Patience with My Chablis has paid dividends for Stephen Marsh as the filly secured the second win of her brief career at the Cambridge Synthetic on Wednesday.
A rising four-year-old, My Chablis made her debut in mid-January but was put aside until the polytrack meeting on June 12, where she collected her maiden success at start two over 970m.
Stepping into Rating 65 grade in the Entain/NZB Insurance Pearl Series (1300m), the daughter of Burgundy was rated a $5.50 chance behind the well-performed Tears Of Victory and Pax Mundi.
In the hands of her regular rider Courtney Barnes, My Chablis was forced to travel three-wide in the small field after jumping positively from gate five, as Tears Of Victory led the field through the running.
Barnes placed pressure on My Chablis nearing the home bend and she got into a strongly contested battle to the line, eventually coming out on top over a fast-finishing Don't Look Ethel and Tears Of Victory, while Pax Mundi never saw clear air placing her back in the field.
Assistant trainer Rhys Mildon represented Marsh at the meeting, indicating the three-year-old may be set for a higher-stakes synthetic race if the opportunity arises.
"It was another tough run, she was stepping up another 330m in distance and she was three-wide the whole way, so I couldn't have been more impressed to be fair," Mildon said.
"We would've forgiven her for getting tired and running third, but she dug deep and she's a really gutsy filly.
"She'll probably come back here in a fortnight if she's all good, at this time of the year we'll keep her off the heavy grass tracks.
"She may just have one more here and we'll reassess, there may be a big money race on the synthetic but I'm not sure what Stephen has in mind for her, possibly one of the final races.
"She just had a couple of fetlock issues earlier in her career, but Stephen has been really patient with her and it's certainly paying off now."
A daughter of three-win mare Rio Nugget, My Chablis is a half-sister to Group One-performer turned sire Ferrando, and was bred by Mapua Bloodstock Ltd.
She has earned $19,040 in prizemoney from three starts for connections, which include All Black Damien McKenzie.
Marsh will be represented across the North and South Islands through the rest of the week, with runners at the Riccarton Synthetic on Thursday and Ruakaka on Saturday.
Miss Nico Belle will headline the Riccarton contingent when she contests the National Breeding Stock Sale on Gavelhouse Plus – Ends 10 July (1200m), while consistent gelding Winning For All lines up in the Northpine Waipu Cup (1200m) in the far north.
"His (Winning For All) work has been really good but he's just taken a few runs to get fit this time," Mildon said.
"He's drawn well (four) in a small field so he's probably one of our better chances on Saturday at the low weight."
Sam Spratt will partner the Shooting To Win gelding, while Masa Hashizume has been engaged aboard last-start winner The Exponent when he contests the Truweld Engineering (1400m).
"Everything went right that day for him to get a win on the poly, but I think he's a better grass track horse in time," Mildon said.
"Being an open three-year-old race it's certainly a lot tougher than last-start, but if he can get a forward position and a bit of luck in the running, he'll be there or thereabouts that's for sure."
