Lightly raced filly Cornelia made a return to the winner’s circle at Te Rapa on Saturday with an impressive display in the Jack & June Stewart Memorial (1200m).  

A daughter of Swiss Ace trained by Simon & Katrina Alexander, Cornelia made a successful debut in late December and was spelled after finishing close-up at her first test out of maiden grade. Returning at Tauranga last month, she made up late ground to finish second which saw her in demand second-up, closing a $3.60 favourite behind Bella Timing ($3.40).  

Speedy front-runner Shoes set a strong tempo out in front while Cornelia settled second-last for Michael McNab, giving the pacemaker a decent head-start turning for home. Cornelia posed the main danger to the leader as Shoes maintained her gallop into the final 100 metres, but the Alexander runner was too powerful in the finish claiming the victory by three-quarters of a length.  

The victory was McNab’s second for the meeting, after scoring earlier aboard Shaking Stevens.  

“She (Cornelia) ran really well first-up, I sort of thought I’d be one-one, but they’ve let Jas (Jasmine Fawcett) come off (the inside rail) so I’ve ended up a spot further back that what I thought,” McNab said.  

“She tracked into the race well, she’s still very new but was tidy.  

“I’ve had a little bit to do with Shoes so I knew she would be vulnerable late, especially first-up. But I wasn’t necessarily confident because my horse was doing a bit wrong.  

“She’s got good scope so she should get to a bit better grade.” 

After a firing first-up effort, Katrina Alexander was hopeful Cornelia would be amongst the finish and she duly delivered.  

“When she ran on so well at Tauranga, where there was such a front runner’s bias, I was quite impressed because I did think she may have come up a little bit short at that distance,” she said.  

“It gave us a little bit of confidence coming into today, just knowing she’s coming back.  

“She’s tricking me a little bit, I thought she’d be a bit keener out of the barrier but maybe she’s looking for more ground.  

“We knew there was going to be the genuine speed and in particular from that horse, so with the draw that we had, I thought she might have just tacked on a little bit closer earlier on. But she’s got the job done anyway which was nice.”  

Bred and co-owned by Hawke’s Bay local Simon Tremain, the Alexander’s hope to target the Spring Carnival at Hastings with the filly.  

“She hasn’t done a lot of racing left-handed, she won at Taupo in that direction, but it’s been a while. I’d love to get her down to Hawke’s Bay for Simon Tremain her owner, he’d love to see her at the carnival there,” Katrina Alexander said.  

“We’re just playing around with distances and things here and going left-handed to see if that is the suitable option, and it’s looking like it could be.”  

Out of Tremain’s Mastercraftsman mare Stratosphere, Cornelia’s granddam Lamington Vegas was a Listed juvenile winner.