Two-year-old filly Rumble Doll has produced in her second start what her trainer Henry Dwyer had been expecting in her first.
Rumble Doll finished third to Lindsay Park filly Sukoshi on debut at Sale maiden earlier this month and Dwyer admitted he went into that race thinking she would win.
After assessing his options, Dwyer elected to run Rumble Doll ($6) in Wednesday's Ladbrokes Odds Boost Handicap (1000m) for two-year-olds and with apprentice Michael Poy aboard the filly turned the tables on Sukoshi, leading all the way on a heavy-rated track to score by 3-3/4-lengths.
McCullum ($6) was second while $1.70 favourite Sukoshi was another 1-1/4-lengths away third.
"I was a bit surprised with her in her first start," Dwyer said.
"She's always shown that jump-and-run-early ability at home and she began with them but she just wouldn't muster in the first 50 metres last time.
"It really took us aback and we had to re-assess a little bit.
"This race came up quite light. I thought she would go to the races and win first-up and with that in mind and the favourite here today being the horse who finished in front of her last time, I thought we'd roll the dice and run her here.
"She showed us today what she had shown us at home prior to her first run."
Dwyer believes there are more wins in store for Rumble Doll but may give her a short break.
"I thought if she ran well today or won I'd be looking for something on a Saturday," he said.
"There's no sprinting races for two-year-olds on Saturdays coming up so I think we'll just give her a little bit of a let-up and bring her back for some races in the early spring over 1000 or 1100 metres."