Improving three-year-old Rostova scored her maiden Group 1 success after three attempts in the $300, 000 Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes (also known as the Sportingbet Classic) at Morphettville on Saturday.

The Steve Richards-trained roughie started the race at the generous price of $21 and went on to overcome her wide barrier 15 draw and defeat the odds-on favourite Velocitea ($4.40) by close to a length with the Anthony Cummings-trained Sister Madly in third.

Rostova, ridden expertly by Steven King, settled well back in the field to start before bursting through her rivals at the top of the straight to score a win in the 1200m feature.

The Mick Price-trained Velocitea gave chase and put the pressure on Rostova over the closing stages, but Rostova still had some in the tank and managed to hold on to her lead.

Rostova came into the spotlight last year when she was highly fancied to take out the Blue Diamond Stakes, but had failed to live up to the hype having not won a race until her comeback win on Saturday for nearly a year.

The winning Testa Rossa filly has now won five of her 14 career starts for $723, 475 in prizemoney. Proving herself to be a super sprinter, Rostova?s next big assignment will be the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) at Randwick on April 17.

The other feature event at the meeting was the $300, 000 Group 1 Australasian Oaks (registered as the Schweppes Oaks), which saw a dramatic upset where long-priced outsider Small Minds ($26) claimed victory and the $4 favourite Speedy Natalie fail to finish.

2010 Robert Sangster Stakes Results:

Position	Horse	Trainer	Jockey
1	ROSTOVA	Steve Richards	Steven King
2	VELOCITEA (NZ)	Mick Price	Damien Oliver
3	SISTER MADLY	Anthony Cummings	Dwayne Dunn
4	VALENTINE MISS	Mark Kavanagh	Stephen Baster
5	TRIM	Peter Snowden	Mark Zahra
6	VERY DISCREET	Richard Jolly	Chad Lever
7	SHEKINAAR	David Jolly	Matthew Neilson
8	MADAME PEDRILLE	Darren Smith	Mark Flaherty
9	MONANA FLYER	Gai Waterhouse	Brad Rawiller
10	MAJESTIC MUSIC	L Macdonald & A Gluyas	Clare Lindop
11	JAALIPPY	Gordon Richards	Michael Hoppo
12	AUGUSTA PROUD	L Macdonald & A Gluyas	Jason Holder
13	HAPPY HIPPY	John P Thompson	Danny Nikolic
14	HEADWAY	Peter G Moody	Craig Newitt
15	LUCE DEL MARE	Mark Kavanagh	Simon Price
16	AVENUE	Peter G Moody	Luke Currie
17	TOOTSIE (NZ)	Michael Moroney	James Winks
18	CERBERUS GAL	Gary Kennewell	Ryan Plumb
Scratched
FALVELON?S DREAM
IRISH LIGHTS