All the while the money kept going out, a small fortune frittered away in the hope of winning Sydney's race. And there was never much of a return each Easter.

"I was sitting there from the time I was born and every day he would say, 'this one will win the Slipper', or 'we will get them this year'," Vandyke said.

"My father's dream was to win the Slipper and he spent his whole fortune on trying to win a Golden Slipper. I grew up in a household where the Slipper was the holy grail and the importance of it was overstated to me in my youth."

The irony is not lost on Vandyke that an unfashionable $10,000 yearling will be – all things being equal – his first runner in the world's richest two-year-old race.

Blink and you would have almost missed the pint-sized All American filly go through the ring. Luckily Scott Darby and his Darby Racing venture didn't.

Vandyke's father had four Breeders' Plate winners and from a handful of Golden Slipper runners couldn't manage better than fifth. Almost certainly all would have had better bloodlines than Yankee Rose.

What he would be thinking of Vandyke's ambitious plan to run Yankee Rose, unbeaten in two starts after a last-stride win at Rosehill on Saturday, first-up in the autumn in the only race that ever mattered to him?

"We'll give her a break and then run first-up in the Slipper and go Sires [Produce] and be third-up in the Champagne Stakes," Vandyke said.

"To now have a runner so far out, it's exciting. I'll be getting up every morning from now until then thinking no matter what happens ... with a bit of luck we should have a genuine chance in the Slipper."

Spotting James Cummings' first starter Good Standing a seemingly impossible start in the straight, Yankee Rose thundered down the centre of the track to win by a half neck.

Julius Caesar was the first of the two Peter and Paul Snowden runners home, finishing three-quarters of a length back in third.

Yankee Rose's prizemoney is more than enough to ensure Vandyke can sit back and cool his heels in anticipation of a first Golden Slipper runner, for which Jason Collett will be in the saddle as the pair enhanced their mind-boggling strike rate.

"I thought I would run second at least and once I got her out and she quickened and I put the stick behind the saddle [she clicked up]," Collett said.

"I thought I may have given away too big a margin, but the last 150 [metres] she went to another gear. She had the two trials and from trial to trial and then to the race she has just taken each step and gone ahead."

Good Standing's rider, Glyn Schofield, would have been forgiven for thinking he had the race all sewn up until Yankee Rose's withering late burst.

"I could feel him putting in and because the challenge [of Yankee Rose] wasn't really close to him [it caught him by surprise]," Schofield said. "If she was closer he would have fought him off. [But] he's a lovely horse and he's got a lot of improvement to come."

Kerrin McEvoy was far from disappointed in Julius Caesar's effort, winding up late to do his best work through the line.

"He ran well and he's a nice horse for the future," he said.