THE weekend's downpour might not have been to some trainers liking, but Kyneton's Sue Naylor was certainly happy to see the rain arrive.
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A heavy 10 at Ballarat on Monday proved pivotal in Sangria Miss breaking her maiden over 1200m.
The win capped a successful return to the racetrack for the four-year-old mare, who was coming off a 24-week spell.
"She went out for a spell and then she injured herself while spelling, but it was probably a blessing in disguise because we were waiting for the tracks to soften up a bit," Naylor said.
"It looks like the wetter tracks are her go. She handled a really heavy one.
"She's run on the soft and run well before, but I guess you never really know until you try on the real heavy ones.
"She got through it really well. It was a really tough, game effort."
Naylor could be forgiven for thinking the win was a little overdue for Sangria Miss.
The mare had been placed on three separate occasions in eight previous starts, underlined by a narrow second behind the David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig-trained Fiorente's Girl over 1600m at Tatura last October.
Looking ahead, Naylor is cautiously confident Sangria Miss will relish a step up in distance.
"I think she will get up to 2000m, so hopefully over a bit more ground she can win a couple more," she said.
Naylor echoed the sentiments of trainers across the state by saying she felt fortunate to be still be racing as Australia continues to contend with the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think for most of us it's business as normal. It's strange when you do go to the races and there are no spectators," she said.
"But I think we are all just grateful to be going to work and being able to do what we do.
"Training in the morning it's life as normal, albeit everyone is keeping their distance.
"We are working seven at the moment, which is a nice number for us.
"We just do it all ourselves these days so we don't want too many.
"Seven keeps us busy enough. The only other one who is racing at the moment is Paris Gem and she won her last start and she will probably go to either Ararat or Pakenham in about 10 days' time.
"The racing authorities are doing a great job and I think (participants) are all trying to do the right thing."
Naylor praised the winning ride of Will Price, who is two-from-two in his last two rides for the stable.
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