Midwinter, midweek racing can be tough fare but for three horses from the Gai Waterhouse stable it might just be a springboard to carnival success.

Waterhouse produced a winning treble at Canterbury on Wednesday, kicked off by Knight Exemplar in the opening event.

Stablemate Spurtonic added the Hyland Race Colours Handicap (1550m) before Danas Best rounded out the day with a 1900 metre victory in the final race.

Waterhouse wasn't on track to celebrate, instead heading interstate for a stallion parade at Eliza Park Stud which has recently been purchased from the Fleming family by Sun International.

Stable representative Mark Newnham said they had high hopes for all three Canterbury winners but he was particularly impressed by the performance of Spurtonic who recovered from a slow start to score.

Both Spurtonic and Danas Best will be given the chance to progress to staying races over the Sydney carnival.

"The most exciting win was probably Spurtonic because of the way he won it," Newnham said.

"The last two are both promising staying types.

"The other bloke (Knight Exemplar) is a work in progress."

Spurtonic was having his first start since the summer when he finished runner-up to subsequent Queensland Derby winner Hawkspur.

"Gai's put entries in for some of the better races for him. He's always shown promise," Newnham said.

"He's got some form around Hawkspur which is good. Hopefully he can start to live up to it now."

Danas Best came to the Waterhouse stable at the start of his current campaign having previously been prepared by the now dissolved training partnership of Graeme Rogerson and Lee Freedman.

He finished sixth in last year's Geelong Classic for his old stable and Wednesday's victory was his fourth from 12 starts.

"He's got all the attributes of a stayer. He can put himself in a spot, he can relax and he can go hard to the line," Newnham said.

Knight Exemplar, fourth to Nechita in the Group One Coolmore Stud Stakes last spring, is among Waterhouse's early nominations for the Cox Plate.

He will be given another softer assignment before he is stepped up in grade.

Tommy Berry was aboard all three Waterhouse-trained winners and donated his earnings from the meeting to the Montgomerie Fund, established for the family of jockey Simone Montgomerie who was killed in a race fall in Darwin on Monday.