Progressive mare Idyllic made good use of her blistering barrier manners and high cruising speed as she led her rivals a merry dance at Awapuni on Saturday.

The lightly raced five-year-old daughter of No Nay Never bounced straight to the front for rider Lisa Allpress in the rating 65 1100m event, opening up a six-length lead midway through the contest.

Clear on the home corner, Allpress just let her cruise to the line, winning by three lengths from the fast-closing Strides, despite looking slightly uncomfortable in the rain affected going that was downgraded from a Soft5 to a Soft7 after two races.

Having just her sixth start and off the back of two trial wins to fit her for her new campaign, Idyllic impressed trainer Kevin Gray who believes there is more in store for her.

“She has a bit of class and is a nice filly,” Gray said.

“She won her trials like she did today and we don’t really know what her ability is.

“There are a lot of 1200m races that suit her, so we will follow those for a while.”

Allpress was also suitably impressed with the mare who she remains unbeaten on at both the trials and on raceday.

“She anticipates the start so well and she is on her toes and ready to go,” she said.

“It was a super effort as she didn’t really appreciate the ground.

“I thought I might have been going a bit quick for the conditions but I ended up having to give her a couple of reminders with the stick to keep her mind on the job.

“She is a very nice mare who will go a long way.”

Out of the Lonhro mare Idlewild, Idyllic comes from a family littered with stakes performers including high class performer Solveig, who won 14 races with three of those at Group One level including the Gr.1 Avondale Cup (2200m) and Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m).