Wilderness Star, a $31 chance, was taken to the lead from the outside barrier by Serg Lisnyy in the 3YO maiden plate (1200m) and it proved the winning move.

Well-rated in front, the filly stole a break close to home then held on by two-thirds of a length to break through at her ninth start.

Hopkins had hoped Lisnyy could get Wilderness Star to the lead without pushing her hard and he was delighted with the result.

"She's been a bit of a work in progress, and a head case," said Hopkins, who has eight in work on course at Newcastle.

"She's always shown ability and I probably thought she would have won a couple by now.

"But her last couple of runs have been good and she was able to get to the front today.

"She doesn't begin well but after a furlong, she starts charging. She's probably looking for further and that might just be the way to ride her.

"She was pretty strong on the line today."

The meeting was another memorable one at home for boom Hunter apprentice Dylan Gibbons, who rode two of Godolphin's four winners.

He was aboard the James Cummings-trained Mamounia to open the program and Nikau in the sixth and now has 49 winners for the season.

Cummings and Godolphin also had wins with Minouche and Tanzimat, both with Grant Buckley aboard.

Andrew Gibbons helped deny his son Dylan a hat-trick in the last event when he took the Sam Kavanagh-trained More Sundays ($9.50) to victory over the Kris Lees-trained Loch Lomond ($3.40).

Lees, though, scored a win at Randwick on Sunday with Animate ($15), which claimed a benchmark 78 handicap (1200m) with Tyler Schiller in the saddle.