The track was off at Ellerslie as it often is at this venue and times all day were ordinary to say the least. The Listed 3yo event at the unusual trip of 1500m saw the emergence of a filly with scope to prevail at Group level and she should enjoy a middle distance too. Tavy may have won this by less than half a length but the Roger James filly had heaps up the sleeve at the line for rider Vincent Colgan. She has so many weapons from being able to unleash of slow or fast clips and is getting more tractable and gaining invaluable ringcraft with each race. There is a strong argument to be made to say she should be unbeaten and three-for-three but for getting into the clear too late at debut but she pounded home late for second that day. She had won both her trials prior to debut so is a natural winner and today clocked 1:30.75, which is nothing out of the ordinary. Dead footing does seem to allow her to detonate impressively and being by the sire Tavistock there is that lingering doubt about handling good footing or harder tracks. She may have the natural ability to get away with it once but more than that until it happens is the query. Her dam The Cat’s Whiskers won twice and while it says on good footing each time that is not quite true as the times she ran show the footing at Arawa Park (1:24.33 for 1400m) and Te Rapa (1:38.37 for 1600m) had some cushion for sure in them. Tavistock provided the quinella with maiden closer Midnitemagicman getting home hard late for second after being second last turning for home and fourth at the 50m. The gelding must be getting sick of the sight of Tavy, which has beaten him in the last two outings. Midnitemagicman has a Listed placing as a juvenile but it came on slow ground and the winner Avisto has been poor of late and may be herself just a wet tracker too. His dam Keep Alight won twice and they came on dead and heavy footing but the G1 NZ Derby (2400m) in March, where the Ellerslie track is almost always rain-affected at this time of the year, does seem a legitimate target. The second dam of Midnitemagicman is Our Tristalight (by Sir Tristram) that won six races including the 1993 G1 SA Oaks (2400m) so the stamina quotient is built in. Ambitious Unicorn fought on solidly for third after racing handy the inner and has scope being such an imposing 3yo. Passing Shot shared the pace and was swamped late into fourth with a gap to the rest that got bigger between each runner as they crossed the line. Divissima was terrible after sitting fourth the outer with cover and she is paying the price for being slaughtered fresh up at G3 by rider Rory Hutchings. She needs to be ridden colder or tipped out and try again in the autumn as something is missing since that resumption gutbuster. The winner here Tavy has it all ahead of her and only the harder footing over summer looks the box yet to be ticked off for the gifted gal. Midnitemagicman surely will not remain a maiden for much longer and may need a soft kill race to ensure he does not miss out on gaining a start in some bigger races for age group. Ambitious Unicorn has scope and the frame to reach higher honours. Passing Shot will pay his way this season and has tactical speed plus today he carried 58.5kg so when back to set weights it goes more in his favour.