WELWITSCHIA made it five wins from 11 outings for Mary Slack when she returned to sprinting, winning the Gr2 Camellia Stakes over 1160m on Champions Day.

The daughter of Oasis Dream came from dead last at the 500m mark to win by 3.25-lengths under Anthony Delpech, drawing clear in commanding fashion.

“I think Nico (commentator Nico Kritsiotis) went for the sensational call and he got it!”chirped Mike de Kock after Nico had spotted Welwitschia behind runners with some seven lengths to make up going into the last 400m.

Welwitschia kicked into gear smartly, sliced through the field in scintillating fashion and ran her rivals ragged.

With blinkers removed from her racing equipment for the dash down the straight, a better run was expected from Welwitschia, but she was sluggish off the mark all the same. “She’s always slow off, but Mike read it right today. She didn’t enjoy the longer distances we were racing over. She’sa better sprinter than she is a stayer. She went down well today and she travelled well,” said Delpech.

“Sometimes I surprise myself at how stubborn I can be, as the (longer trips) were not what she wanted,”Mike said. “Well done to Mary. This filly came from off them, but (at the business end) she was moving up hard while the others were off the bit!”