Three-year-old Harquila will press on into the summer so trainer Greg Eurell can get a better guide on her potential after the filly remained unbeaten at Caulfield.
In an on-pace dominated race, Harquila ($8) resumed after a debut win at Bendigo in July to add Saturday's Cotton On Group Christmas Handicap (1200m) by a narrow margin.
The daughter of Haradasun sat outside the lead and edged out Mother Grace ($8) to score by a short head with odds-on favourite Mokoro ($1.90) a long neck away third after being slowly away.
Eurell gave Harquila time to develop after her debut win and says it's now right to test her in off-season races.
"I think she's a really nice filly and still has a lot to learn but I think there's genuine improvement in her," Eurell said.
"This time in we'll try to get a bit of a guide on where she's at and if she is going to be good enough for the autumn we can then give her a little bit of a let-up and go from there.
"She's heading in the right direction at the moment."
Mokoro, an impressive winner on debut at Seymour, dwelt at the start and was last out before moving around the field three-wide under jockey Damien Oliver from the 800m.
She loomed up at the top of the straight but the effort told as she was unable to get past the leading pair.
"She still doesn't know much but she ran really well," Oliver said.
"She still has to learn some racing smarts."