Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray elected to take a detour to Pukekohe on Sunday with their Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) bound filly Tajana, and it looks to have paid off.

The Oaks Stud-bred and raced filly also accepted for the Gr.3 NZB Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) a day prior, but following a week of wet weather coupled with the long journey south to Trentham, the Cambridge trainers elected for a target closer to home.

“It was hard with the weather and the rain coming in,” Murray said. “It is a big call to make to head seven-hours down the road compared to an hour-and-a-bit up here, so I think we made the right call.”

The Pukekohe hit-out also gave Tajana another look around a right-handed track, which she will be faced with in the Oaks, with its shift north to Ellerslie next month.

Pitted against just three other runners in the MyRacehorse 1600 on Sunday, it proved to be a tactically run affair, with jockey George Rooke initially dropping back to settle off the pace at the tail of the field with Tajana.

The daughter of Darci Brahma then progressed into the one-one position before Rooke presented her three-wide at the turn. Tajana quickly bounded to the lead with 300m to go, but began to switch off in the concluding stages, with Lunaman closing late to get within a neck of the victor.

“She does that, she gets to the front a bit too soon and she switches off,” Murray said. “I am very happy going forward anyway.

“We are glad that we came here today to give her a bit of a soft kill, which wasn’t that soft in the end, I had to wipe my brow when I saw that one (Lunaman) coming after us.”

It was Tajana’s first run since her unplaced performance in the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November, and Murray believes she will take plenty of benefit from the run as she steps up in distance to the Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies Classic (2100m) at Te Rapa on February 7, before her main assignment of the Oaks a fortnight later.

“We will go forward to the Sir Tristram Fillies Classic now, as long as she pulls up okay, and we will go from there to the Oaks,” Murray said.

“We think the more distance she gets the better she is going to get. We are quietly confident heading up to 2000m-plus.”

Rooke was pleased with the win but admitted she hit the lead too early.

“She hit the front way too soon and she started pulling up on me in the last 50m, but she is very good,” he said.

“She has come back, she is not blowing, she looks fantastic, she is a lot bigger in front, and going further won’t be a problem.”

Tajana has now won four and placed in three of her nine starts to date, including victories in the Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) and Gr.3 Sunline Vase (1400m), and placings in the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m), Gr.3 Colin Jillings 2YO Classic (1200m) and Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), and she has earned more than $260,000 in prizemoney.