Down The Hatch was on trial at Moonee Valley on Saturday to see which direction she was likely to take in the immediate future.

She gave a pretty good account of herself in the National Jockeys Celebration Day Handicap, when she was always handy to the leader, TizsoWicke, before drawing away to an impressive win.

As far as her trainer, Robbie Griffiths is concerned, he will press on with her, she has taken the next step from a Sale Maiden two year old race to city company.

Her trainer commented she was on the small side and that is true, yet she still showed plenty of heart when challenged on the home turn.

The Sale run was an educational exercise with a small field of just six runners, she was not going to get knocked about much and it helped to build her confidence when she met a much larger field.

Down The Hatch was passed in as a yearling for $50,000, her breeder, Kevin Wacey, decided to race her himself when she didn’t reach the reserve.

She will now be given the chance to step up to better class races as she progresses, there are quite a few nice races that would suit her coming along.

Down The Hatch with Josh Cartwright up