Former Perth mare Samovare was on her best behaviour at Moonee Valley in breaking through for her first win for Lindsay Park.
Having her third start for the stable, Samovare came around the field in Saturday’s Ladbrokes Odds Boost Handicap to score under Damien Oliver.
Sent off the $3.60 favourite, Samovare scored by 1-1/4 lengths from Spanish Reef ($4.20) with Trinity Hill ($17) a short-head away third.
Senior Lindsay Park trainer David Hayes said Samovare had some quirky antics that she hadn’t displayed when first arriving in the stable.
The mare was a luckless second at Flemington in June and finished second again at the track in August.
In between those two runs she was a late scratching at Flemington after flipping over when being saddled.
“We now take her with the clerk of the course and get her into a bigger area and she settles right down,” Hayes said.
“She’s a bit quirky but she was on her best behaviour today.”
The mare is among nominations for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, the Cox Plate in Melbourne as well as the Epsom Handicap and The Metropolitan in Sydney.
Hayes said the Naturalism Stakes at Caulfield on September 23 or the JRA Cup at Moonee Valley on September 29 would be the mare’s next start.
