Trained near Orange by Rose Pringle, the daughter of Collision followed up on her seconds in both the heat and semi-final to blitz her rivals by seven lengths from Victorian By Starlight with Olive Millie a neck back third.

Midnight Capers and Pringle were locked in a race against time to be ready for the series after the bitch suffered a severe dose of scours in the week prior.

‘‘We brought her over and gave her her first look at the track on the Tuesday prior and with the heat and humidity, which was much worse than what we are used to at home, plus the fact she was still recovering it really knocked her about,’’ Pringle said.

‘‘She was a little distressed after her placing in the heat and was not much better after running second in the semi-final and was a bit down on weight as well. But she’s really picked up in the last week and we were reasonably confident if she could get the right run off the red she would be hard to beat.’’

Pringle has not been a regular visitor to Newcastle, but last night was a welcome change of fortune.

‘‘It is a fair way to come, but we did come over here a while ago with a dog in one of the feature maidens,’’ he said. ‘‘But after qualifying from his heat for the final he got crook and had to be scratched.’’

By Starlight, which won her heat two weeks ago before finishing third in the semi-final, was the best-placed of three Victorian-owned bitches which made it through. First-time owner Carole Jones and hobby trainer Kenneth Lewis were denied a fairytale when Olive Millie was third.