Home track advantage for Gill

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The mare clearly enjoyed racing at home and won comfortably to get Kendra her first win. She trains in partnership with Grandfather Mark Gill. Kendra says Amarla’s form going into the race wasn’t that flash so the result was a pleasant surprise.

“She was lacking a few runs going into Nelson whereas coming into Blenheim she was a lot fitter and the draw suited her,” she says.

“It definitely helped her a lot.

She didn’t have to work as hard and do as much work. She positioned well and stayed there throughout.”

Kendra says Amarla has been racing recently with ‘higher rated horses’ so Friday’s contest allowed her to be on a level playing field albeit in warmer conditions over four and a half laps.

“She wasn’t too bad overall, the wind out there was a lot cooler than what we thought so that helped,” she says.

The 28-year-old is in her second season training in partnership with Mark, who has provided plenty of know-how and insight into racing.

“Mark has been involved with horses long before I was born,”

Kendra quips. “You can’t win with Kendra around, she’s stubborn for sure,” he says.

Mark says he wasn’t surprised by the result after a promising meet at Addington three months earlier where Amarla came from the back of the field.

“She had a good feeling and she (Kendra) told the driver,” he says

(Alana Cameron).

The weekend weather certainly played its part. A parochial crowd of onlookers attended while Sunday provided the ideal opportunity for local families to enjoy the warmer day with live music and hospitality.

The TAB Turnover for the two days was a healthy $2.7million.