McEvoy had the strongest mare in the race and used that to his advantage.

Gai Waterhouse again proved her ability at peaking a horse over the Randwick mile as the four-year-old mare was simply too tough for more noted rivals.

"Look at her, she is a ball of muscle," Waterhouse said.

"She was good in the spring but she has really grown and matured and this was the race we targeted with her.

"She really put a gap between her and the rest of the field."

Amanpour was third in the Matriarch Stakes at Flemington during the spring behind Sauvito, which has already franked by winning the Futurity Stakes this autumn.

The missing piece of the puzzle was McEvoy who gave her a perfect ride at a strong gallop and made everything chase him.

"They put it to her early but she got her lungs full of air coming down the side and I knew I had a mare that is effective over much further and made a test," McEvoy said.

"I built it up from the 600 metres and, by the turn for home, I was very confident nothing was going to beat me. She was still on the bridle and was going strongly."

Amanpour's main concern came before the jump when she was checked by the vet after getting her head up in the barriers.

Once on the track, she  dropped her rivals at the top of the straight and, on the line, had 1 lengths on Catkins, which ran her fifth group1 placing, while Noble Protector was a gallant third a short head away.

Favourite First Seal missed the kick and never got into the race.

"We wanted to be on the speed and the race was over after she came out slow," trainer John Thompson said.

James McDonald explained to stewards how disappointed  he was by First Seal's performance.

"She was in the barriers for a long time," McDonald said. "I really don't know why she did that [jumped slowly].

"I explained to the owners, if I hadn't missed the start, I would probably still be in the same spot. She couldn't even get past some tired ones in front of her.

"I think she just felt it after that extremely hard run over 10 furlongs, but she looked well."

Catkins was got out in plenty of time to run down Amanpour but  again found the mile beyond her.

"Huge run by her, she tries really hard," jockey Joao Moriera said. "No excuses in the race, we just bumped into a better horse on the day."

Craig Williams called Noble Protector gallant in getting to third.

"We rode her with a bit of a sit and felt like she was going to have good acceleration," Williams said. "She didn't on the ground, but stayed on really strongly.

"She'll be put away now and will be a nice mare in the spring."