Whilst most Grafton Trainers were heading to Inverell for cup day on January 1 Greg Howells decided to head down the coast to Port Macquarie with the old stager TEO TORRIATE in search of what he hoped would be a much easier assignment.
Lining up in the BM 50 1512m the eight mare had plenty against her she had never been to Port Macquarie she had not won a race on a good surface since 2016 and her two previous runs past 1450m she had failed to run a place.
As if to prove that history is not everything TEO TORRIATE ridden with plenty of confidence by Raymond Spokes scored a very solid victory.
Coming to the 500m Spokes decided it was time to steal a march and worked away from the inside rail to begin a run. As heads were turned for home Spokes was off for the prize and quickly established what turned out to be a winning break.
By the time the line was reached TEO TORRIATE was still well clear and eased down to score a solid win over another Grafton galloper in El Teniente which chased gamely all the way to the finish.