The Tony and Calvin McEvoy stable may look to a stakes race with Naiconi after a city breakthrough win at Sandown.
Naiconi backed up her maiden victory on the Ballarat synthetic last month with a comfortable win in the Ladbrokes Mates Mode Handicap (1400m) on Wednesday.
Rayan Moore, the racing manager for the McEvoy father and son training team, said the Listed Twilight Glow Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday week may now be on the agenda.
The McEvoy’s won the Twilight Glow Stakes, when run at Sandown, with Xilong in 2019.
Giving Blake Shinn the second leg of a race-to-race double, Naiconi, the $2.10 favourite, registered a three-quarter length win from Belmia ($4.60) with Miss Dunsford ($5.50) a further two lengths away.
Having performed well over 1100m earlier in her career before scoring over 1200m in her maiden win, Moore said Wednesday’s 1400m success added another string to Naiconi’s bow.
“The stable has always liked her,” Moore said.
“We took her over to Adelaide for a stakes race in the autumn. The 1050 metres was possibly a little bit sharp at the time.
“She’s a winner over 1200 and 1400 metres and being by Nicconi, she’s a really lovely filly and hopefully she can keep on improving.
“In 10 days’ time there is the Twilight Glow Stakes. We’ll see how she settles out of this race, but ideally we’ll head there.”
Shinn led throughout to win the opening race, the Ladbroke It! Plate (1400m) on Riverplate and Moore said the instructions for Naiconi had been simple.
“We said to Blake pre-race ‘rinse and repeat’ and that’s what he did,” Moore said.
“It was a really good effort by the filly today. She was tough. Jamie’s (Edwards) horse (Belmia) attacked her late, but she fought her off bravely.
“She’s a lovely filly, lovely and relaxed. Everything we do with her, she is push button, and she proved that today.”