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Shandy completed a winning hat-trick at The Valley by winning the PFD Food Services Handicap. 

The Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra stable will raise the bar with Shandy after the mare completed a winning hat-trick at The Valley on Saturday. 

A "cheeky" nomination had been thrown in for the $5 million Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 17 after Shandy had scored wins over 1300m and 1400m before her tough win over 1600m in the $75,000 PFD Food Handicap, a benchmark 78 grade race. 

Shandy had to do it the tough way under Jamie Kah being forced to race three-wide for the majority of the trip before holding off Thought Of That and Ghodeleine. 

"We did nominate her for the Caulfield Cup cheekily but we'll get her up to 2000 metres and she's got a nice win in her somewhere through the carnival," Zahra said. 

"I just love the way she's going and she looked terrific in the yard. We're over that little speed hump last week and onwards and upwards." 

Zahra said he was reluctant to change things up with the mare, preferring to keep Shandy in her stable environment at Flemington rather than send her to freshen up at the stable's Yungaburra property near Hanging Rock. 

"We had her out quite early and it's now the first week of September," Zahra said. 

"We've still got October and November to go and we can use the farm, but you don't like taking them out of their routine while they're going so well." 

Kah said it had been a messy race, however Shandy won in the style of a good horse. 

"We were a bit wide but she made a run herself, she didn't track into it, it was a big win," Kah said. 

"I think she was just knocking up late on the line but she's such a tough horse. 

"Ellerton and Zahra have got this horse flying. She was running out of carrots on the line but she dug in deep."