A liking for wet ground has paved the way to success for Royal Island in Wednesday's Wangoom Handicap, the feature sprint race during the three-day Warrnambool carnival.

The John Salanitri-trained galloper was having his first start since August and his win has prompted the stable to consider a trip to Queensland.

Salanitri's brother Frank, the stable's racing manager, said Royal Island was deserving of a feature race win having been unlucky throughout his career.

"We gave him a long break after his last campaign to aim at Brisbane," Salanitri said.

"But we wanted to bring him here first-up to see where we are at with him.

"It's always a competitive race and we can take our mark from here."

Ridden by Jason Benbow, Royal Island ($21) cut the corner before racing clear to score a 2-1/2 length win over Magnus Lad ($7.50) with Taddai Tondo ($13) three quarters of a length away third.

An inside draw on Wednesday held concerns for Salanitri and Benbow so the pair hatched a pre-race plan to make the situation work in their favour.

"We thought coming here by the second or third day that they'd be swooping out wide," Salanitri said.

"He loves the wet and we were quietly confident that he'd run a big race and it would be whether he'd peak near home.

"We discussed cutting the corner, taking off and making the others work to catch us."

Royal Island's Wangoom victory capped a successful week for the Salanitri stable and came on the back of I Love It's third placing in the Group One Robert Sangster Stakes at Morphettville on Saturday.

"A lot of hard work goes into this," Salanitri said.

"It's good to get these sort of results, especially on top of a Group One placing and hopefully the wheel keeps spinning our way."

The Wangoom victory was also a highlight for Benbow who has been making the annual pilgrimage to Warrnambool's three-day carnival since he was an apprentice.

Benbow said a decision to shift the starting stalls away from the inside rail enabled him to track off the fence throughout the race.

"We had cover the whole way and the rest is history," he said.