Ima Ginger Rogers in Devonport blitz

IT came as no surprise to harness racing trainer Steve Davis when his well-bred five-year-old mare Ima Ginger Rogers delivered a career best performance to win the $10,000 Leigh Plunkett over 2297 metres in Devonport on Sunday night.

Ima Ginger Rogers had good form leading up to the race but the weight of money that arrived for race favourite Little Bit of Big ($2 into $1.60) saw Davis' mare's price drift from $5 to start at $8.60.

But when driver Ricky Duggan urged Ima Ginger Rogers forward at the start from gate three and found the lead it was obvious a long way from the finish that the mare was the one to beat.

The favourite made a dash from the rear to sit at the leader's wheel but when her driver Rohan Hillier asked for the supreme effort she was unable to go on with it and the leader slipped clear and went on to score by 12 metres from Little Bit of Big with Reckless Abandon five metres away third.

Ima Ginger Rogers covered the journey in 2m.55s for a mile rate of 2.02 but she scampered home her last half (800 metres) in a slick 57.9.

"I was confident she could win because she had good recent form heading into the race," Davis said.

"Her two previous runs were terrific without winning and her trackwork in the week leading up to the race was fantastic so I thought if she could lead then nothing would be able to run her down and I told Ricky (Duggan) that before the race.

"When a horse can run home its last 800m in under 58 seconds on the Devonport track, and I knew this mare could do that, then she was always going to be extremely hard to beat," Davis said

Davis became aware of the mare after her full sister Shezallapples (Sportswriter-Apple Sorbet) won a Group 1 2YO race at Menangle in NSW in June last year.

"I knew this mare was for sale in Tasmania so when I heard that Shezallapples had won the Breeders Challenge I rang Chris Aylett, whose father Phil trained Ima Ginger Rogers as a young horse, and said we'd better buy her as a broodmare prospect.

"So I rang Nick Perotti the owner of Ima Ginger Rogers and we ended up buying her in a package of four horses that included another broodmare, a yearling and an unbroken two-year-old.

"This mare took a bit to get going after she injured a knee that later became infected and when she was over that she got a bad cold so we had to tip her out and start again.

"But this time in she has been good and provided all that bad luck is behind her she might just win her way through the classes."

Peter Staples