Letting a naturally quick filly do her thing paid off for Frostnip, who made a stylish debut at Caulfield Heath on Wednesday. The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained juvenile displayed blazing speed to land the MRC Foundation Gala May 8 Plate (1000m), leading all the way in her first racetrack appearance.

Although she didn’t jump perfectly under Blake Shinn, Frostnip ($3.60) quickly mustered pace to take control from gate nine and held her advantage to defeat Sassy For Sure ($16) by half a length, with $2.35 favourite Wiltshire Square another three-quarters of a length away in third.

Price explained that his instructions to Shinn were straightforward and based on the filly’s natural asset—speed.

“In his usual fashion he shrugged his shoulders,” Price said.

“If she jumps, we’ll go with her, if she doesn’t, and I have to ride a race, I’ll ride a race.

“He went with the horse, and he was right, but she’d had enough on the line. For a horse that doesn’t know much, she had to do plenty, so she did a good job.

“She is specifically a sprinting filly, so that’s what we’ll keep her to.”

Price indicated that targeting a Black Type race either later this season or in the early part of her three-year-old campaign would be ideal.

“I think if you had the right race for her, for the rest of her two-year-old year and early in her three-year-old year, you would be able to get a bit of Black Type with her somewhere,” Price said.

“I don’t know about 1200 metres, but certainly 1000 or 1100 metres.

“Maybe the Lightning Stakes in Adelaide, that is something I would be having a look at as she’s smart and fast and 1050 metres at Morphettville, it could be ideal.”

The filly was a value buy, secured for just $28,000 at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale, and Price credited her purchase to a keen eye from outside the traditional bloodstock circle.

“I think a bloke by the name of John Sutherland might have bought her,” Price said.

“He’s a Stock and Station agent and buys cows, so he might want to change professions.”

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