Ethekwini makes brilliant WA debut for Lindsey Smith, Rogers finishes with treble at Mt Barker Turf Club

Ethekwini made a brilliant WA debut, destroying her rivals by more than four lengths at Mt Barker Turf Club on Friday.

The meeting on December 30 was the final in the Great Southern for 2022 and it was the Lindsey Smith-trained Ethekwini that grabbed all the attention.

The Savabeel mare was previously trained by Danny O’Brien where she had 10 starts and broke her maiden status at Kyneton before being transferred to Smith.

She had two barrier trials at Lark Hill before making her WA debut in the class one race at Mt Barker.

Ethekwini jumped a raging $1.20 favourite in the Hello 2023 Handicap (1200m) and didn’t fail to disappoint.

Carrying 59kg and jumping from the inside barrier for jockey Natasha Faithfull, Ethekwini was able to find the front after the first 200m and dictated terms from there.

Approaching the home corner the challengers were starting to come to her outside but Faithfull had plenty up her sleeve as Ethekwini kicked into another gear in the final 200m to sprint clear in dominant fashion.

Ethekwini was eased down by Faithfull on the line, scoring a 4.2-length victory over Fly Better, after absorbing a fair share of early pressure up front early on.

The talented galloper has now been transferred to the Albany stable of Roy Rogers.

Rogers had a treble to round out 2022, as Dark Assault, Rocapozzene and Squillionare recorded victories at Mt Barker.

Dark Assault had been impressive at his last three starts and broke a 587-day winning drought when he claimed the Goodbye 2022 Handicap (1200m) by half a length over stablemate Sneaky Fox.

Three-year-old filly Rocapozzene then broke her maiden status in only her second career start with Beaux Banovic-Edwards in the saddle.

The daughter of Rommel finished fourth behind God’s Moment on debut and Banovic-Edwards fired her straight to the front.

She was too strong at the finish to win by more than a length.

Banovic-Edwards then made it a double and completed Rogers’ treble when saluting with Squillionare in race six.

Jumping a $16 chance in the 1100m class two race, Squillionare travelled up sweetly behind the leaders and wore down Lucrative Lucy in the straight to win by 0.8 lengths while $3.70 favourite Shake Baby Shake finished third.

Trainer Malcolm Byas had more success in the Great Southern, this time with Kimoiy, an impressive maiden winner.

Capel galloper Duchess Demerit stormed home from seventh on the corner to win the final race of the day for jockey Jade McNaught and trainer Paul Roberts.