Maiden races at the Bendigo Jockey Club regularly produce smart horses to follow and Tuesday's meeting was no different.
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The winner of the opening event of the day - Gracie's Rain - looks to have at least city-class talent.
Trained at Pakenham by Michael Huglin, Gracie's Rain couldn't have been more impressive on debut in the Catanach's Jewellers 3YO Maiden Plate (1000m).
Jockey Daniel Stackhouse settled Gracie's Rain outside the leader and she showed a great turn of foot at the top of the straight.
She put a space on her rivals and surged to the line to win by nearly three lengths in a slick time of 57:54 seconds.
"She's always shown good ability,'' Huglin said.
"She's trialled well and her gallops have been good.
"It was over the minute she sat outside the leader. She's a pretty good horse.
"She's a good eating filly, she's tough and we'll find another race for her."
Stackhouse said Gracie's Rain had a bright future.
"She's a lovely filly going forward,'' Stackhouse said.
"She's very professional, she stepped well and she has a lot of speed and I was holding her back and let her run through the bridle a little bit.
"Once we got to the top of the straight I had to let her go because she was travelling so well... she put them away easy."
The other impressive winner to follow out of the meeting was Eishaa.
The Paul Preusker-trained mare earned her third-straight win when she cruised to victory in the Wild Plumbing 0-64 Handicap (1600m).
The daughter of Smart Missile has only had four starts for Preusker since crossing from the Nick Ryan stable.
After running sixth in a maiden at Hamilton, Eishaa broke her maiden status at Swan Hill and then won impressively at Ararat and Bendigo.
On Tuesday, she settled midfield off a hot tempo and looped the leaders rounding the home turn.
She showed great tenacity to finish strongly down the middle of the track.
