Arabian Gold burst into contention for the Cox Plate after claiming the scalp of Catkins in the Golden Pendant at Rosehill Gardens.
Trainer David Vandyke believes his grey mare is capable of competing at the highest level and indicated she would now head to Melbourne, ruling out the Epsom Handicap.
“We’ll head down to Melbourne now, we are looking at the Toorak in two weeks," he said.
“The Cox Plate is still in the back of our minds.
"All credit goes to this mare. She has been everywhere, run in all the carnivals, from Sydney to Melbourne to Brisbane, and she’s keeps going.
“She only had five weeks out in the paddock and she came back 20kgs heavier.
“The world is her oyster after that performance.”
Arabian Gold settled on the back of Catkins throughout the run and looked as though she was going to be unlucky in the straight before runs opened and she was able to sneak along the inside to defeat the short-priced favourite with My Sabeel running third.
"Blake [Shinn] had her in a perfect spot behind them. I told him to be kind to her, to make sure we got through this run in good order, and he did that. He waited and waited with her," Vandyke said.
“He showed so much patience.”
Shinn is unable to ride Arabian Gold in the Toorak Handicap due to her expected light weight but was delighted to get the result first-up for connections.
“I can’t tell you how special this is," he said.
“She has been such a great horse not just to myself but also to my best mate Peter Robl and Nick Moraitis.
“David Vandyke has done an unbelievable job in preparing her and bringing her back from a hard three-year-old campaign last autumn.
“It is really satisfying and rewarding for the whole team, to get her back in the spring to produce a run like that first up is just amazing.
“It’s onwards and upwards into the spring carnival, today was a stepping stone to see how she had come back on a path toward a Cox Plate. If that was any indication I think she is well on track.”