Wayupinthesky will be kept in Melbourne for more spring carnival sprints after the lightly raced filly made the leap from a provincial victory at Newcastle to win a stakes race at Flemington.
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained three-year-old enjoyed a perfect trail with cover in Saturday’s 1100m straight-track sprint for fillies before hitting the front under jockey Damian Lane with 100m to go.
Wayupinthesky ($4.20 fav) put up a winning break and went on to score by one length over the luckless Absolute Flirt ($4.80), who struck traffic back in the field before bursting through late.
Athiri also got out late before hitting the line to finish another long neck away third.
“There’s not much of her but what is there is all heart and determination and she showed that today,” Peter Snowden said.
“She’s got that will to win.”
Having shown her quality in Saturday’s victory, Snowden said Wayupinthesky would stay in Melbourne for more spring carnival assignments, with the Group Three Scarborough Stakes (1200m) for fillies at The Valley on September 27 in his thoughts for her next start.
“She’s only a small filly so we won’t overtax her too much. She will probably only have two more runs then have a breather, but she’s definitely got quality,” he said.
“She’s only lightly raced so you’d think there’s more upside to her and hopefully there is during the carnival.”
Wayupinthesky ran in the Group Two Reisling Stakes on debut, finishing fifth, but Snowden said that was just a bit too tough an assignment too early for the talented filly.
She then won a Warwick Farm maiden before a spell and won a 900m Newcastle class one first-up last month before Snowden targeted her at Saturday’s race.