Fletcher Baybe (5 B. M. Istidaad – Gracie Slick, by Waikiki Star) remained unbeaten in three starts on the Paeroa course after taking out the Paeroa Racing Function Centre Rating 70 over 1670-metres on Wednesday, although her record states otherwise.

Her Maiden win at Paeroa, from the Sanders stable, was a good performance over 2100-metres on Slow8, and she crossed the line first when resuming off a spell at her initial start for Waihi Beach trainer Mathew Faber, but she faced disqualification after her rider weighed in light – only through the 500gram weight of a neglected towel under the saddle.

Notable when fifth at Te Rapa to talented galloper Roman Ruler (Viking Ruler) next time, Fletcher Baybe produced an eye-catching run for third on a sticky, Slow8 track at Avondale, before being unsuited on better ground at Ruakaka when sixth to promising staying mare Mary Agnes (Zabeel), last start.

Back at Paeroa on a Heavy10, three-kilogram claiming apprentice rider Harry Kasim was able to balance the ledger from the mishap in May aboard Fletcher Baybe, to guide her home in confident fashion over One Cool Family (One Cool Cat), with Regal Court (Hunza Court) in third.

The winning margin was a long-neck, by four-lengths, and as the $4.90 & $1.60 tote price suggests, she was found by plenty in the market to start favourite.

Owned by Jim Lourie to include a large syndicate, Fletcher Baybe was purchased as a yearling by Mr J D & Mrs S Lourie for the meagre sum of $1,800 at the 2005 New Bloodstock Spring sale and has now registered both her victories at Paeroa, where theoretically she should be three from three.

To date, she is the best performed from her dam, Gracie Slick, who won five times in the South Island between 1200 and 2000-metres on a range of different footing.

Working with only a small team, Faber continues to have an excellent winning strike rate with his horses.

After serving his apprentice, Faber was a jumps jockey from 1982 to 1994, but it was the time spent riding work and learning from Hall of Fame trainer Ray Verner that decided his future as a trainer.

Faber reckons rather jokingly that he could have hit a ton in race day falls. “I always had to be better at training as I couldn’t have been quite that bad as a jockey. I’ve had a few injuries, but I’m walking and I’m smiling, so it can’t have been too bad.”

Faber said he uses the Paeroa track occasionally for fast work, but ninety-percent of the work is done on the estuary at Bowentown, which he feels offers a perfect environment.

“It’s a flatter surface and has a bit of mud base, so you don’t get as much wear and tear in their hoofs as you do sometimes on the sand”, he said.

Faber is on the lookout for a few more talented horses, or those that “try hard”, and require a personal touch.

“I don’t want any more than six”, he said. “I do all the riding and pretty much all the work myself. I’m a fussy bugger, so it’s best I’m left do things my way, and everything that has come through the barn has at least won a race, but the phone doesn’t ring too often.”

He presently has only three horses in work after losing the services of five-time winner Propagate (Kashani) last week, and is looking forward to further success with Fletcher Baybe.

“She gives me tingles, actually. She can give you heartbreak by doing some funny things in her races, but I’ve said to the owners that she’s got a bit of a future. She never puts a foot wrong in her training and I think getting back up to 2000-metres could be her pet distance.”