Marotiri Molly will aim to complete her season on a high note at Arawa Park on Saturday, taking on her own sex in the Gr.3 Rotorua ITM Stakes (1400m).
Prepared by Matt Dixon at Foxton, Marotiri Molly has conquered all before her since opening her preparation in late August, winning four of nine races including the Gr.2 Manawatu Challenge Stakes (1400m), and placing behind gun mare La Crique in the Gr.2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1400m).
After running a creditable fifth-equal in the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) in January, Dixon had one final target for his mare in the weight-for-age feature, where she is back on even terms with her rivals after carrying topweight in her lead-up run, the Listed City Of Napier Sprint (1200m).
Despite the hefty impost, Marotiri Molly was characteristically game, running a close-up fourth behind Slipper Island, Pier and Tomodachi.
“I always knew she was going to be pretty vulnerable in that race with the weight she had to carry,” Dixon said. “She was giving four-and-a-half (kg) to Pier and six (kg) to the other two so I thought it was a huge effort to finish only a length from them.”
“She’s just been ticking over since then. She likes to get on with things in her gallops, she goes pretty hard.
“She’s certainly ready for another race, that’s for sure.”
As planned, Marotiri Molly is more than likely to be making her final six-year-old appearance on Saturday when she jumps from the ace draw.
“We’ll see what happens on Saturday, but she was always going to have a pretty light autumn,” Dixon said. “She won’t be slogging through the mud and I want to give her a bit of a let-up, before targeting the spring.
“This race was the one we were looking at, the 1200m at Trentham was the lead-in to Saturday’s race so being a weight-for-age, it suits her a lot better these days. She’s come through the grades very quickly and all of a sudden she’s shot up over 100 rating, but makes things a bit difficult outside of weight for age races. “I’m very proud of her and where she’s come from, and where she has got to.”