Cyclone tracking towards Alexandra Park
Garrick Knight - Raceform • September 11th, 2025 3:00 PM • 4 min read
A mid-winter virus well and truly behind her, Cyclone Sala is poised to return to the winners’ circle at Alexandra Park on Friday night.
The progressive three-year-old trotting filly has landed the plum ace draw in the first race on the card, the $17,000 Volstead @ Alabar Northern Metro Trotters Ht 1 Mobile.
It’s a tidy field, and she won’t get things her own way, but the daughter of Majestic Son has put in some fine performances in recent months that suggest she is destined for bigger things.
“She’s quite a big filly, so we’ve just had to wait on her,” Matthews told RaceForm. “As a two-year-old trotter, she was doing everything right and had enough ability, but she was still growing and getting stronger.
“I’ve also had a lot of problems with her feet getting abscesses, so she wasn’t always racing at 100% every time.”
Cyclone Sala turned the corner in the autumn and cleared maidens at her 12th start back in June. She was checked in two subsequent starts before a virus took hold.
“She spent most of last year and early this year racing the top ones in her year, so when she stepped back into maiden grade, she really started to get some confidence.
“It wasn’t planned to have her go six weeks between races, but she got a virus and that put her on the sidelines for a bit.”
Cyclone Sala resumed last week and mounted a brave effort for second behind And Remember Me, who led throughout. Matthews expects that will have blown out the cobwebs for her tougher assignment this week.
“She’d only had the one trial on the way back, so I expect her to be a little bit sharper this week. Her work has been great – she’s trained on well.”
There is an ever-so-slight query on the mobile start, as she did break briefly in her last attempt at it, though did recover to run second.
“I don’t really know why she misbehaved that night, because as a two-year-old she was brilliant behind the mobile.
“Perhaps she was just a bit fresh; Jay said she wanted to charge the gate and when he took hold she got a little bit angry at home.
“I haven’t trialled her from the mobile since, and I don’t think it will be an issue, but you can never be certain.”
Bookies opened Cyclone Sala on the third line of betting on Tuesday at $7.50. The Tony Herlihy-trained Pretty In Pink was the favourite.
Matthews’ immediate focus is the $35,000 Metro Series Final on September 26 and then she will have to make a choice between two islands.
There is the inaugural Harness 5000 day at Ashburton on December 21, which will host a $60,000 Final that Cyclone Sala will be eligible for.
“But the Golden Gait Finals are a couple of days earlier at Auckland, and if they’re the same as last year, they’ll be for more money.”
Last year’s Golden Gait Finals were run for $100,000, but early programming documentation suggests that may be halved for the second iteration this year.
For Matthews, who only has a couple of racehorses at present, it’s a nice problem to have.
“Nothing is set in stone beyond this series, but there will be a fair few that are not eligible for the Harness 5000 due to their sires, so that does make it more appealing.”
