19 September 2022 | Ashleigh Paikos

After a few setbacks at the end of her two-year-old campaign, trainer Jemma Hayman is hopeful that they’ve got Extraordinary Mary back on the right track, with the now three-year-old breaking through for her first win this season.

“She ended up having a sore knee as a 2YO and underwent carpal arthroscopy at Murdoch to scrape the bone away, etc,”

“We gave her a good spell, and this has been her next prep.” Hayman said.

Starting from barrier one in the opener at Narrogin on Saturday night, after an incident with a few drivers and runners in the first attempt causing the race to be stopped, the daughter of locally stood stallion Fly Like An Eagle was able to bounce to the front from the inside position, leading all the way in take two, holding off her rivals over the 1823m sprint trip to win by a clear margin of 2.3m in 2:02:1 for driver Kyle Harper.

“She hasn’t made things easy of late, as she can get a bit keen in races but last night (Saturday at Narrogin) she did everything right despite the race being re-run.”

Last season, Extraordinary Mary had just the 10 starts for two wins, including a win in the two-year-old Sales Classic Heat for the fillies, going on to run second in the final 10 days later after toughing it in the breeze for the entire journey. Just three weeks later she claimed top prize in the 2YO Fillies Western Crown worth $25,000, then going on to place in the APG Final and 2YO Gr1 Diamond Classic.

“I don’t think she’s quite up to the open 3YO fillies at the moment, but if she continues to improve on her recent patch of form, she might get back there.”

Callan Suvaljko walked away with a training and drving double on the card, with his runners Louie Lebeau NZ and Ardens Horizon NZ claiming top spot in races two and three.

Sharing top spot with training honours on the night was Barry Howlett with a double with his runners Three Rumours NZ (Race 5) and Oh So Grand (Race 6), giving Chris Lewis a driving double.

And not to be forgotten, Mitchell Miller also drove a double on the card, with Baltic Ace NZ getting the job done in race four for trainer Tracy Reay, as well as a win in the last on board the David Jackson trained Mission Glory, who broke an incredible 119 start losing sequence as well as over six-and-a0half years away from the winners circle.