The winner of this G3 1200m 3yo only event on a Soft6 rated Ruakaka track was the fresh up filly Lickety Split, that had been a G1 winner last season as a juvenile. Lickety Split had trialled well for second just over two weeks prior so came into today forward enough but certainly with further improvement to come. The filly raced fourth the outer then was moved up third near the home turn before reaching second at the 150m then got up in the last stride to score by a nose and she clocked 1:11.69. It was her third win in four starts and this G3 win today goes with the G1 success she had as a juvenile. The runner up was the wayward filly Pacific Dragon, which was ridden by the apprentice Kozzi Asano, that was live on a hattrick today. She soon led and then veered wider and wider the run home before going down the very last stride. The filly now has won at Listed level and finished second at G2 (beaten a long neck) and G3 (beaten a nose). Third home and finishing strongly the widest out was the Australian-bred gelding Lord Cosmos, which ended up being beaten just over a length. He was ridden by the apprentice Joe Kamaruddin. Notably both of his wins to this point including one at Listed level have been left-handed. Fourth home was the locally trained filly Deploy that had won three races coming into today and all of her successes came here at Ruakaka. Today was her first go at Blacktype and she ended up a weakening fourth beaten just over four lengths. The filly was wide early before racing up outside the leader then was carted wider twice the run home by a wayward runner up. Fifth home was Texas that had won his maiden here prior fresh up easily on Soft5 footing. He raced seventh the outer and reached sixth turning for home before getting into fifth at the 150m and boxing on okay to the line. Sixth home was the local maiden filly Malfy Rosa, which raced sixth the inner before turning for home seventh then was sixth at the 150m boxing on okay too. Second last home was the maiden gelding Night Raider that trailed third the inner before weakening out the run home and he got beaten just over eight lengths. Last home but far from being disgraced was the local gelding on debut namely On The Wall, which was slow away and a clear last on settling down. He still finished last but was warming up at the line to be beaten just over eight lengths. The winner knows how to score clearly and the waywardness of the runner up helped her cause too. This was a reasonable strength G3 event and the form should stand up well enough from this race.