A tilt at the Queensland Derby is now on the radar for emerging Tulloch Lodge three-year-old Shangri La Spring after an impressive front-running performance in the Frank Packer Plate at Randwick.

Trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott had originally plotted a path toward the ATC Australian Derby (2400m), but Bott explained the colt wasn’t quite ready in time, prompting a revised campaign aimed at the Brisbane winter carnival.

“I wanted to try to get him here for the ATC Derby. We gave him a short turnaround off the back of his winter campaign and thought we’d give him that option,” Bott said.

“It has just taken a bit longer to get him fit than we wanted so we thought the Carbine (Club Stakes) and Frank Packer would be a better program and then we could aim up (to the Queensland Derby) if we ticked those boxes.”

Shangri La Spring had struggled second-up over a mile in the Carbine Club Stakes (1600m), but jockey Tim Clark admitted his tactics may have been too aggressive on that occasion.

“It was probably a little bit my fault the other day. He probably wasn’t quite ready to be ridden like he was, second-up at a mile,” Clark said.

“That probably held him in good stead for today having a really good, toughen-up run under his belt on the back of Gai and Adrian’s advice to hold him up a bit more today, and getting out to 2000 metres, to trust his turn of foot.”

Starting at $16, Shangri La Spring found plenty in the straight, kicking strongly to win by three-quarters of a length from Firm Agreement ($4.40), with Plymouth ($7.50) finishing another 1-1/2 lengths away in third.

Favourite Swiftfalcon ($1.90) settled closer than usual and loomed up turning for home but couldn’t match the winner’s turn of foot, fading late to finish fourth.

“He has probably come to the end of his prep,” jockey Tyler Schiller said of Swiftfalcon. “He’s definitely not a 2000 metre horse. He might be a mile/18[00]. He had every chance today.”