David Vandyke admits he has been surprised by Church Boy's rapid progress but the trainer will gladly keep raising the bar.

Church Boy claimed his fourth win from five starts since Vandyke took over the Segenhoe team when he won over 1500m at Rosehill on Saturday to put himself in the frame for Sydney's biggest race of the summer.

Vandyke will get him ready for the Group Two Villiers Stakes (1600m) on December 13 as long as he comes through the Listed Festival Stakes in two weeks as expected.

"He just keeps lifting," Vandyke said.

"If you had told me at the beginning of his preparation he would be winning a benchmark 80 on a Saturday I would have laughed.

"He was only a maiden last preparation and now he is bullying his way into the better races."

Sent out the $2.45 favourite, Church Boy raced handy to the lead under Blake Shinn and assumed control in the final stages to beat Abbasso ($19) by a comfortable 1-1/4 lengths.

Vandyke said Shinn had been an integral part of Church Boy's education.

"Blake has been the making of the horse," he said.

"He has managed to keep him relaxed and he was very calm going to the gates.

"The horse can hit a flat spot in his races and he did that again in the straight but he picked up again and dug deep."

For his part, Shinn deflected the praise to Vandyke.

"David has placed him well and he is taking really big steps," Shinn said.

"He is a horse of the future."