Gai Waterhouse has Group I ambitions for Group II-placed filly Flamboyant Lass after an emphatic midweek kill at Warwick Farm.
Flamboyant Lass ($3 fav) was facing older mares in the Schweppes Handicap (1000m) but her class came to the fore, resulting in a 3-1/4 length trouncing.
Jim Delaney’s veteran sprinter Floral Insight ($9) filled second place, half a length in front of Quietly Brilliant ($4.20) from the Joe Cleary stable.
The daughter of Stratum tracked a wide course in the run but proved much too good at the business end of the contest.
The win was the perfect appetizer for future targets this spring which, according to Waterhouse, include either the Group I Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick or the Group I Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield.
“Absolutely too good, very hard for a three-year-old to win against the older mares,” Waterhouse said.
“This is a very exciting filly. A few of the owners said ‘why isn’t she starting on Saturday?’ and I said ‘that small fish are sweet’.
“She’s showing that she’s right up there. I want her to go to a nice Group Two and then the ultimate aim will be either the Thousand Guineas or the Flight Stakes.”
Flamboyant Lass is currently an $18 chance in Sportsbet’s futures market on the 2015 Thousand Guineas.