Training partners Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra hope to have finally worked out Devine Diosa after her win at Caulfield.
Having had ‘black type’ aspirations for the filly, Divine Diosa finally broke through for her maiden Saturday city success when taking out the Take It To The Neds Level Handicap (1440m).
Divine Diosa scored her maiden win at Sandown last August with Saturday’s success her only win since.
Providing Damian Lane the second leg of a winning double having scored on Sydney visitor Malkovich in the Neds Toolbox Handicap, Divine Diosa ($21) scored by 1-¼ lengths from Basarwa ($20) with the $1.60 Sportsbet favourite the same margin off third.
Ellerton and Zahra thought enough of Divine Diosa to start her in the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes at Flemington last spring along with taking her to Adelaide in search of a stakes win in the Group 3 Auraria Stakes (1800m) at Morphettville.
However, the filly was unplaced in both with the stable lessening their expectations, at this stage.
“She’s like a wife, you’ve got to work them out and keep them happy,” Zahra said.
“She’s been a real work-in-progress.
“She came of age in the spring and we thought we had a nice Oaks filly on our hands but as we set the bar up in distance, she over-raced a lot of the way.
“She spent a fair bit of time away from the stable, came back and we’ve kept her at the shorter trips for now.
“We’re trying to teach her to drop her head and hit the line.”
Zahra said the filly could be seen in action again at Flemington next Saturday in the final of the Silver Bowl Series (1600m).
“We’ll give her one more then put her away and give her another crack, just to let her see what it is all about, but we’ll have to see how she pulls up,” Zahra said.
