HORSE RACING

MATT Laurie’s progressive mare Sayumi has broken her maiden tag in comfortable fashion with a win first-up at The Valley on Friday 4 December.

The four-year-old daughter of Sebring had placed in three of her four starts before being sidelined for eight months with a slight strain to her suspensory.

Returning first-up and winning with her ears pricked by half-of-a-length in town, Mornington-based trainer Matt Laurie believes the layoff has made a “world of difference” for the promising mare.

“She’s really thickened up into a lovely style of mare now,” Laurie said after Sayumi’s maiden victory.

“I thought we might end up back on the fence and from that draw we were going to need a little bit of luck but they were just going well enough for a bit of space and Ben [Melham] gave her a peach of a ride so it’s nice to see her finally break the maiden.”

With three 1200m races on The Valley card, Sayumi comfortably clocked the quickest time winning in 1:10.28 – more than half of a second quicker than the other sprints.

Jockey Ben Melham repeated Laurie’s sentiments believing the mare has come back as a superior racehorse.

“She’s improved a lot this filly,” Melham said. “I haven’t had a lot to do with her this preparation but she actually really surprised me with the way she let down the last furlong. With the way she let down, she’s definitely capable of winning better class races than this.”

With the way Sayumi handled The Valley’s tight turning track, Laurie pointed to a possible return to the venue for her next start.

“I didn’t have any lofty ambitions. It was just to get this out of the way but clearly she likes this venue so we’ll be looking for other races [back here],” he said.

First published in the Mornington News – 8 December 2020