Sunshine Coast held the feature meeting in Queensland on Saturday which included two Group 2 races along with a handful of listed events.
The feature race of the day saw The Monstar take out the Group 2 Moreton Cup (1200m), leading all the way to hold out Platinum Angel, a half length away in second with Calanda third.
Returning with a fifth placing in the Listed Luskin Star at Scone, The Monstar was able to improve off that effort to win on Saturday, his first victory in just over a year.
The Brett Cavanough-trained runner returned a Timeform figure of 112, his highest since running third to Rich Charm in the Group 2 Multiplier Stakes at Flemington last spring.
The Monstar returned a Timeform figure much higher than that of 2017 winner Deply (106) with second placegetter Dothraki running to 118 in that renewal.
The seven-year-old gelding who will back up into the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) this Saturday returned a figure slightly above the average for the last five year of 112 (formerly the QTC Cup).
With a career peak Timeform figure of 115, you would expect he will need to show significant improvement to be winning a race like the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.
The other feature race of the day saw Egg Tart also claim her first win in just over a year when taking out the Group 2 P.J O’Shea Stakes over 2200m (Formerly the Eagle Farm Cup).
Egg Tart who’s last victory came in the 2017 Group 1 Brisbane Cup ran to a Timeform figure of 111 on Saturday, five pounds below the 116 she ran first up when second in the Group 1 Doomben Cup.
Coming up against a fairly modest bunch, Egg Tart did enough to beat Tradesman by two and a half lengths with Megablast not far away in third, all three placegetters running to 111.
Egg Tart is the lowest rated winner of the race since Mahtoum ran to 109 in 2006 over 2400m at Eagle Farm.
2017 winner Single Gaze ran to a Timeform figure of 113 with the race run at Doomben last year, below the 117 Werther ran to in 2016.
Egg Tart will now go for a spell in sunny Queensland before being aimed at the Melbourne Spring Carnival with a race like the Group 1 Caulfield Cup a potential target in the spring.
Of the other winners, three-year-old filly Epidemic was able to get the better of the older horses with a narrow win in the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes (1200m) making it five wins from just 10 starts.
Coming along the inside to edge out Pomelo and Just Dreaming, the James Cummings-trained runner ran to a new career peak Timeform figure of 103, six pounds above her previous win over 1100m at Rosehill.
The daughter of Lonhro out of Group 1 winner Mnemosyne has won all three outings this campaign and is certainly one to keep an eye on going into the spring.
Pomelo was very good in second returning a new career peak Timeform figure of 104 with the 56kg and Just Dreaming in third running up to her previous best of 103.
