Sundons Flyer has matched the win record of her mother at her very first start.
But her trainer, Bruce Negus, has his eyes on a bigger prize after the trotting filly's maiden win at Forbury Park last night.
Negus bought Sundons Flyer's mother, Feather's First (1 win), off part-breeder Eric Dasler in 2011.
Negus was impressed with the deeds of Feather's First's full sister, Featherflight, who won eight races, mainly in the North Island.
"I stuck her in foal to Sundon to give her a chance,'' Negus said.
The early signs, from the resulting foal Sundons Flyer, however, were not too encouraging.
"She used to be terrible. After she was broken in, she would lie on the track, so I had to send her back for a second breaking-in attempt,'' Negus said.
"She would run off the track - she was very naughty. So I turned her out on the hills at Waikouaiti for six months and she came back a different horse.
"Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth now. She's kind and she never gallops. All the things she used to do, she doesn't do any more.''
What she does do now is trot fluently.
The 3yr-old has gone from workouts, to a trial to race night in the space of a month, and her trial win at Methven on Sunday made plenty of punters take notice.
"The idea of bringing her here was to get her into the Oaks,'' Negus said.
"It's only a month away [April 1] and I knew I didn't have much time.
"If she trotted away, I knew she was good enough to win but I wasn't worried about that - more about the experience. Now she's won a race we'll give her some mobile barrier practice for the Oaks.''
● Ashburton trainer Laurence Hanrahan does not mind a road trip to Dunedin at all.
Hanrahan brought up his 200th New Zealand winner when Cullen Keefe led most of the way to win race 3 at Forbury Park last night.
"Forbury has been a good track to me over the years,'' Hanrahan said.
He's right.
Following Pocket Of Jewels' win in race 7 last night and Bute Courage's win in race 10, 31 of Hanrahan's 202 wins have come at Forbury Park, including four race-night doubles.
He went one better last night with his three wins, giving him his second career treble after winning with Cruzem, Mister Gee D and Sir Lance at Winton in December 2003.
Hanrahan trained his first winner, Star Bar, at Methven in 1990 and has been associated with top horses such as New Age Man - who also won the 1997 4&5yr-old championship at Harold Park in Sydney for Hanrahan - along with former top juvenile Marika, and Sir Lance.
● The promise of Six Diamonds convinced Invercargill trainer Alister Black and owners Ian and Lindsay Thomson to go back to the same formula at the yearling sales last month.
Six Diamonds won her second race at just her sixth start last night, earning a penalty-free victory in the process in the junior drivers' race.
She is out of the Tuapeka Lodge mare Raindowne, and Black and the Thomsons were at Tuapeka Lodge last month for the yearling tour, specifically to check out the respected lodge's draft.
That confidence spread to the auction ring in Christchurch, where they spent $24,000 on an American Ideal-Wave Runner yearling colt and $20,000 on a Shadow Play-Lillian colt.
