Nikki Burke has always had a good eye for a horse, something she obviously learnt from her father, Barry, who was always a shrewd judge of a horse and its value.

The day she went to the sales expecting to buy a filly for $3,000 to $4,000, but had to pay $10,000, her dad might have frowned a bit, but he let it go through to the keeper.

There are no complaints now, the mare, Nautical, won the Print.Com.Au Handicap at Moonee Valley, turning a $10,000 outlay into a handsome dividend of almost $141,000.

Nautical ridden by Mark Zahra

While she may be no champion she’s the sort of mare that most owners would enjoy racing, from nine starts she has returned nine cheques.

Most punters ignored the sound form of the winner, preferring to send out Double Dee as favourite, after looking some chance on the home turn she finished third.

The race developed into a nail biting finish with New Zealand mare, Chiquada, coming home at the rate of knots, only to be beaten by a nose.

Nautical is by Niello, he was not breaking any sale records at the time, even though he was a stakes winner, and a full brother to Lonhro, the best performed racehorse to become National Champion Sire since the great Heroic nearly 90 years ago.

Nikki Burke and Mark Zahra