The daughter of Oasis Dream was lining-up for her fourth Australian start and registered her second victory when taking out the VRC Member Julie Purnell Plate (1410m) on Saturday.
Turaath had been successful in midweek grade at Sandown at her previous start and now Raymond would like to raise the bar with the mare.
Ridden by Melbourne Cup winning jockey Jye McNeil, Turaath ($8) raced to a 3-¾ length win from Aidensfield ($4) with Don’ttelltheboss ($18) three-quarters-of-a-length away third.
A trip to Dubai a few years ago led to Turaath joining the Raymond stable.
“Myself and my partner Paddy (Bell) travelled over to Dubai and we met John Nicolls,” Raymond said.
“He runs the quarantine over there and is getting into sending a few horses down this way and we were definitely lucky enough to get this mare.”
“We are rapt with the result today.
“We’ve always had a really nice opinion of her, she’s just a tough, honest mare.
“She still doing a little bit wrong so today’s win had plenty of merit to it. ”
Raymond said she is unsure how far Turaath can extend into the spring but would like to give the mare an opportunity at stakes level.
“We’ve always just been taking each run as it comes as this is her first prep since coming over from Europe, but she’s a tough mare and handles her work really well,” Raymond said.
“We’ll keep taking each step as it comes, but she’s well-bred, so if we can aim for a bit of black type and get that on her card then she’ll make a nice broodmare down the track.”
