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Lightly raced speedster Sleeping Beauty was back to her brilliant best when she dominated her rivals from in front over 1200m at Matamata on Saturday.

The six-year-old Rip Van Winkle mare was right at home on the Slow8 rated surface as she bounced quickly to the lead for apprentice rider Darren Danis.

Danis made good use of his three-kilogram claim as he kept the mare rolling throughout before kicking clear in the run home for a comfortable win.

The victory capped a winning double on the day for the Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott training partnership who had earlier produced Tweedledee to take out a rating 72 1600m contest.

O’Sullivan was full of praise for the effort by Danis who has made a strong start to his third full season of riding with seven wins already on the board.

“I thought Darren really rated her well with the 3kgs off her back,” he said.

“She came in with 58kgs and got an uncontested lead which panned out really well for her.

“She is a seasoned horse that appreciated a bit of give in the track. It was a great result and I’m really thrilled.”

It was Sleeping Beauty’s seventh career victory from just 16 starts for owner Sir Peter Vela and her second on this raceday after taking out a similar event at last year’s meeting.

The event was marred by the failure of favourite Rosa Carolina who was eased down with 400m to run. The well-bred Savabeel mare was subsequently found to have bled from both nostrils and will now be retired from racing.

The stakes placed mare has been covered by Waikato Stud stallion Tivaci.