Mookareena ends 75-week winless streak in Canberra on Good Friday

But the six-year-old's winless streak ended on Good Friday at the very same place as her last win, Thoroughbred Park.

Race five favourite Vanilla Sky burst out of the gates early but from the 1200m mark it was Mookareena's race, and she was never headed.

Five-year-old gelding Mercury came close to piping the mare on the line, thanks to jockey Jack Martin's home stretch efforts in the 1600m handicap, but fell short by 0.43 lengths.

Before Friday's win, the Joseph and Jones-trained mare had not finished ahead of the pack since November 2020.

Trainer Matt Jones said the win came down to two things.

The jockey, apprentice Kiwi rider Teaghan Martin, and Mookareena's new lucky charm strapper, Shaelyn Quirke.

Martin crossed first in a 900m trial in January riding Mookareena, and from there the trainers knew they were onto something with the pairing.

Jones was very impressed with the three-kilo claimer apprentice's race tactics.

"[Mookareena] had won a couple of races when she was a young horse and getting older now she wants to dominate," he said.

"She had never been able to lead. She wants to dominate other horses but due to other race conditions it never happened but today she did.

"Martin rated the horse and the race really well. And as a young rider learning, that's massive.

"The lucky charm was Shaelyn, the girl who strapped her. It's her favourite horse, and she's the lucky charm now, so she has to do it all the time."

Martin came close to a first place finish on Friday earlier in the day across 1400m. She finished second by about a nose on Mickeyrats in race two, just missing out on the Country Maiden Plate.

The 23-year-old jockey got her maiden victory back in December on another of Joseph and Jones' horses, and her Good Friday win marks the fifth of her career.