KYNETON trainer Danielle Chapman is in the midst of a purple patch with her small team of horses, adding another winner on her home track on Tuesday.
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Chapman notched up her fourth winner from her last 16 starters, when Snappy Pierro broke through for an overdue maiden victory over 1454m, with Jason Maskiell in the saddle.
The four-year-old mare had put the writing on the wall with a pair of placings in her previous three starts and a luckless fifth in her last outing at Kyneton when caught wide.
There would be no such misfortune on Tuesday as Maskiell was quick to find the front on Snappy Pierro ($4.20).
In a sign of promise, the daughter of Pierro and Cerebellum responded strongly when challenged on the home turn, kicking clear in the home straight and running away from her rivals for a convincing win..
Chapman could not have been happier to tick off the maiden win.
"She's been trying hard and knocking on the door and getting a lot of bad barriers, but (on Tuesday) she seemed to do it easy," she said.
"I was a bit worried we'd used a bit too much gas early on, but no, she was running away from them.
"I'm very excited."
Snappy Piero's maiden win at start number 14 came hot on the heels of Snappy Secret's victory at Ballarat on Monday last week.
Chapman, who has only five horses at work from her base at Woodend, has learned to appreciate the good times when they come.
"We are going really good and we will take it while we can," she said.
"It's a long time when the bad luck comes in."
In a sound follow up for the stable, Snappy Tycoon finished second behind Styish Enuff two races later, only caught late after attempting to lead all the way like Snappy Pierro.
It further boosted Chapman's strike rate to four wins and five placings from her last 17 starters.
Maskiell, who was also in the saddle for Snappy Secret's win at Ballarat, praised a brave performance from Snappy Pierro.
"She's a bit of a work in progress. I've thought each start we have learned something about her," he said.
"Last start, I tried to ride her that little bit colder and it didn't work out.
"We gave her a good dig today to go forward and she relaxed quite well when she got there and gave a nice kick at the top of the straight.
"With her, she's funny, because she's too relaxed without blinkers and she's too fierce with blinkers.
"We tried that fine line and put hooks on today and she responded really nicely."
Having notched up the maiden, Maskiell was optimistic Snappy Pierro could kick on.
"I think 1400 or a mile, I don't know if she'll get beyond that," he said.
"But as I said, it's just a learning curve each time with her and we are slowly working her out."