Chakvetadze's colours in winner's stall

By Glenn Davis

BRISBANE, Sept 1 AAP - Chakvetadze's trainer Michael Nolan and her owner John Hooper ended a seven-month absence from the winner's stall together when Alerts carried the glamour mare's colours to victory at Doomben.

Alerts, a son of Falvelon, defied a sprinting pedigree to break his maiden status in Wednesday's G2 Solutions 10th Birthday Handicap (1650m).

The four-year-old, ridden by Glen Colless, downed Il Cardinale by a half-neck to post his first victory from eight starts.

"It's been the first time in about seven months since we've been in the winners' stall together since Chakvetadze last won here in February," Nolan said.

Hooper, who paid $20,000 for Alerts as a yearling at the Magic Millions sales, is hoping the entire can fill the vacuum left by Chakvetadze who was forced to the spelling paddock with a leg injury while being prepared for the Group One Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm in June.

Chakvetadze has won eight of her 11 starts but hasn't raced since finishing second to Montana Flyer in the Group Three Millie Fox (1300m) at Rosehill in February.

"She had a low-grade tendon injury on her left front leg and had to have six months out to recuperate," Nolan said.

"She'll have another two months in the paddock then we plan to scan her leg again and decide if she needs more time or is ready to come back into work.

"It was only a low-grade injury but any tendon injury is bad. She had a similar injury on the other leg the previous winter carnival.

"When she comes back into work she'll be a week by week proposition and we've got no big plans for her at this stage."

Like Chakvetadze, Alerts has also had his share of problems.

"He's always shown us ability but he's been very immature and needed time," Hooper said.

"When he was younger he got an abscess on the jaw and we later discovered it was an infected tooth.

"He had to have an operation to remove it."

Hooper and Nolan praised Colless' ride on Alerts who is a half-brother to Maryann Thexton's middle-distance winner Lander.

"That was a ten out of ten ride and excellent to watch," Nolan said.

"Alerts is a half-brother to Lander and we think he'll get over more ground."

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