Peter Snowden couldn't have been more matter-of-fact about Pleiades' sub-par return to racing.

"I thought she went terrible and I was bitterly disappointed," he said.

Pleiades never figured when she resumed with a down-the-track performance and the mystery only deepened for the departing Darley trainer when she returned to winning form in the Frank Avellino 70th Birthday Handicap at Randwick on Thursday.

"It's different if you can find a problem because you can put an explanation to it," Snowden said.

"But when there is nothing wrong with them and they come home and eat up, I think you have to put it down to something on the day.

"Today, (with the) slower tempo she put herself up on the speed and made her own luck."

Pleiades, specked late in betting from $13 to $12, raced outside her stablemate Chiaroscuro in a race run at a painfully slow tempo.

Christian Reith drove her to the front at the 200m and she had enough in hand to hold off Daline ($11) for a short head win.

It gave Reith an early double after the outsider of the field Miss Alibi ($19) won the Paul Rossington Memorial Sprint (1000m).

Trained by John McNair of Hay List fame, Miss Alibi is now unbeaten after two starts following a first-up provincial victory.

Trainer Chris Waller missed a rare city meeting to spend Christmas with family in New Zealand but he left his mark on the traditional Sydney holiday program.

He trained two of the first five winners in ATC Oaks-bound filly Made To Order and Acapela before claiming the Group Three Summer Cup with I'm Imposing.