The former Victorian was having his third run for Jeffriess since she bought him and was able to hang on for a narrow long neck win from the Inverell debutante Devlann.

Devlann is out of former Inverell Cup-winning mare Excellent Ann and trained by Dean Smith, who prepared the mother to win the 2006 Inverell Cup.

Champagne Warrior “switched on” though, said jockey Darren Jones, to snare a good win at his  sixth start.

“I bought him out of Melbourne and he’s had three starts for me,”  Jeffriess said.

“And he ran a terrific race at Grafton. 

“I went to Armidale but he disappointed.

“I don’t think he handled the track.”

 Quad Indy signalled she might be ready to step up after breaking through for her first win in the Tatts Hotel Brian Baldwin Maiden (1200m).

The Taree-trained mare surged to the line a three quarter length winner from Tony McGrath’s Ayham with Parliament House a long neck away third.

Jockey Scott Thurlow rode Quad Indy and said the daughter of Clang “is just starting to work into her trade”.

“Her first run back from a spell was terrific,” he said of a third at Port Macquarie on December 15.

“And she’s kept on improving.”

Ross Stitt trains the mare for his stable foreman Trent Potts and Potts’s wife and parents.

“He paid $1000 for her,”  Stitt said.

“She was never right in her first preparation but she looked right this week.

“I think she’ll win a few more.

“She’s getting stronger and more mature.”