Punters won the day convincingly at Royal Donald on Tuesday, with five short-priced favourites getting the job done in perfect racing conditions. 
Team Hayes hotpot Neziha ($1.35) got the ball rolling in race two, a three-year-old maiden, in a painless watch for backers, jockey Harry Coffey using a soft draw to box-seat from the 1350-metre start before letting his filly do the rest, pinching a break in the home straight to win by two lengths. 
The daughter of Star Turn was a narrow runner-up to the well credentialled Shystar at Geelong on debut three weeks earlier, the $15 on offer that day a distant memory to her followers. 
Coffey was at it again in race three, though forced to work a little harder for his cheque aboard $2.40 favourite Black Eyed Blonde in the open-age maiden over the same trip. 
The Wendy Kelly-trained mare settled leader’s back on the rail, before getting held up looking for room in the home straight. 
Coffey was disappointed for a run to the outside of a tiring leader and was forced back to the rail, quickly accelerating and taking over to relieve the punters’ momentary heart flutters. 
The bagmen remained in the foetal position for most of the day, with Matt Cumani’s Thinking Sensation ($1.60) and I’llbethere ($1.95) for Patrick and Michelle Payne taking races four and five. 
The relief came in the first leg of the quaddie when rising apprentice Jade Smith claimed the 1620-metre benchmrk 56 on Ballon D’or ($8), holding off a fast-finishing Blazing Guru ($9.50) in the final stages. 
Smith took off on the Lord Of The Sky mare at the 1000-metre mark and kept punching to the line, her daring tactics paying dividends on the Charles Cassar-trained galloper. 
Blazing Guru finished a neck away on the line, signalling a return to form following a short let-up, and must be followed wherever she shows up next time out.
The other runners to follow from Donald are the placegetters behind Neziha in the 1350-metre three-year-olds’ maiden. 
Debutants Baltic Blizzard (trained by Henry Dwyer) and Mongolian Spring (Danny O’Brien) were two lengths astern of the winner but had a further four lengths to the rest of the field, giving every indication they won’t remain maidens for long. 
Both can be followed out in trip next start.

Chica went quicker

Ararat hosted a big set of jumpouts on Thursday of last week and Ballarat trainer Andrew Noblet had a strong team in attendance. 
Noblet, who also has a presence at Flemington, won four of the 18 heats, his five-year-old mare Chica Con Suerte recording the fastest time of the morning (51.15 seconds) from the 850-metre start. 
Just as impressive was Noblet’s synthetic specialist Spirited Defence (51.8), who will look to transfer his excellent Polytrack form (5: 3-2-0) to the grass this summer.