Former handy juvenile High Class finally put it all together on raceday as she ended a two-year absence from the winner’s enclosure with a gritty performance to score at Te Rapa on the weekend.

The now four-year-old Shocking mare had looked to have any amount of ability when she downed a talented field of two-year-olds, including subsequent Gr. 1 1000 Guineas winner Risque, on debut at Avondale back in May 2015. She then finished fourth in Listed company to round out her two-year-old season before commencing a three-year-old campaign that saw her form drop away markedly after finishing runner-up to No More Tears in the Listed Soliloquy Stakes at Ellerslie.

Since then the enigmatic mare has shown glimpses of her true ability in her latest preparation without managing to notch a victory for trainer Jenna Mahoney and her connections. A frustrating run of three minor placings came to an end on Saturday when she put her best foot forward in the hands of regular rider Alysha Collett to down a handy line-up of fillies and mares over 1600 metres.

“She’s become a nice consistent mare now as she has matured and is running well,” commented Mahoney after the race.

“She’s not had a lot of luck and some bad draws and really needs a track to suit.

“She’s not a true Heavy11 track type of horse so we brought her back to Te Rapa where it really suited her and I knew she would be hard to beat.”

The victory continued a wonderful run for rider Alysha Collett who brought up win number 90 for the season. She has eclipsed her previous best of 58 wins achieved in 2011/12 whilst also scoring her first victory at Group One level when successful aboard Consensus in the Zabeel Classic last December.