Former northern mare Midsummer Magic was at the top of her game on Wednesday winning the opener on the card at the Phar Lap Raceway.
The five-year-old Zacinto mare was having her second start for Andrew Carston since arriving from the stable of Stephen McKee.
“She came from Stephen McKee and she is owned by his father Trevor and the Murray family,” Carston said.
“I had a bit to do with the Murrays when I worked at Te Akau and they owned Shikoba, that is how our connection started. Micaela rang out of the blue and I said send her down.”
Midsummer Magic was disappointing in her debut run for Carston last month, but a follow-up trial win had her on target to win the 3 Valleys Maiden (1200m).
“I’ll be honest, I thought she would go close to winning her first start but she went awful,” Carston said.
“We took her back to the trials to get a bit of confidence for her and us. I was reasonably confident she would run well yesterday and we won really well.
“I’m really happy for Trevor and the Murray team, they are another new set of clients so it is great to get the win.”
Midsummer Magic flew out of the gates and raced in a handy position on the rails before jockey Kozzi Asano eased her through on the inside and she ran on well to win untroubled by a margin of one and a half lengths.
“It was a super ride. I thought Kozzi rode her really well, the four kilo claim and good draw helped but he definitely gave her a super ride. He was patient and she delivered,” Carston said.
Midsummer Magic is likely to head to Riccarton next Saturday for the Rating 65 race over 1400m.
To watch the race replay click here
