Standing on the bottom inside rim of her car door with binoculars poised, Gai Waterhouse found a novel vantage point to watch Amanpour demolish her midweek rivals at Canterbury.
And a few minutes after cheering the filly to the line she emerged in the mounting yard to declare Amanpour an ATC Oaks contender.
“She’s a very exciting Oaks prospect,” she said.
“She’s a filly who will go on to much greater things.
“She’s done a big job, she was up against the boys today but there won’t be any boys in the fillies races ahead.”
Amanpour ran her rivals ragged in a midweek race at Kensington last start at her first attempt over a middle distance.
She was similarly dominant in the TAB iPad App Handicap (1900m), taking up the running then quickening the tempo at the 600m which got her rivals off the bit and chasing.
Despite getting tired near the post she ran out a comfortable two-length victor over Falago who ran on without threatening.
Waterhouse will look at the traditional three-year-old fillies races in the lead-up to the Oaks at Randwick on April 19.
The Championships also beckon for Paul Perry-trained two-year-old Scratch Me Lucky who returned to form with a slick win in the opening race on Wednesday.
The colt showed promise at his first campaign with a city placing then failed on a shifty track when resuming in the Canonbury Stakes.
He will be given the chance to press his Golden Slipper claims in the coming weeks although Perry’s son and foreman Shannon believes Scratch Me Lucky will be better suited over the longer journeys of the Sires’ Produce and Champagne Stakes.
“He put them to bed pretty quickly today,” he said.
“We will find a Saturday-class race for him straight away.
“I think if he is going to be competitive at that (top) level, it’s more going to be in races like the Champagne and the Sires’.
“If not there are plenty of 1400-metre to mile races around.”
