Dear Demi put the final touches on her preparation for the group 3 Toy Show Quality on Saturday week with an effortless win in a Hawkesbury heat, only to be upstaged half-an-hour later by the unraced This Is Australia.

The three-year-old colt, a half-brother to All American and More Strawberries, sped over the 1000-metres to record a slick trial win in fast time. It went a little way to explaining why Conners has nominated him for events such as the Golden Rose and Caulfield Guineas before he has even been to the races.

"I think he's a pretty good horse so I'll talk it over with John [Singleton] and [Singleton's racing manager] Duncan Grimley and we'll work out a nice program for him and hopefully get into a nice race," Conners said.

"He's nominated for some of the bigger races in Melbourne so he might kick off here and then go down there."

While This Is Australia is no certainty to head south for the spring, group 1-winning stablemate Dear Demi will look to go a couple of spots better than last year's third in the Caulfield Cup.

She will resume at Randwick in the Toy Show Quality on August 23 against the fillies and mares. The five-year-old looked sharp in winning over 1000-metres at Hawkesbury.

"She seems to go well in the spring time so that's what we're hoping for," Conners said. "Her main aim will be the Caulfield Cup and she'll have three or four runs before that.

"She's coming up lovely. I tried from day one to have her a bit more sharper this prep. Everything is working to plan at this stage. She came out nice, sat back off them and pinged home nicely [in the trial]. She's had two trials now and ran on terrific at Warwick Farm and was better [on Monday]."

Singleton's outstanding race mare More Joyous gave birth to a chestnut filly last week after being covered by Frankel.

Former Magic Millions winner Real Surreal was another to shine at Hawkesbury, winning a heat under James McDonald for Team Hawkes.

Meanwhile, Cox Plate markets have been shaken up following the retirement of one-time favourite Carlton House on Monday. The Queen's horse will stand at Darley's NSW stud after struggling with arthritic joints in preparation for a spring campaign.

He didn't win a race in Australia since arriving under Gai Waterhouse's care, but proved adept at the top level with a last-stride defeat to Silent Achiever in the group 1 Ranvet Stakes and a bold third to It's A Dundeel in the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes, NSW's richest race.

Dual Doncaster hero Sacred Falls is now the $12 favourite for the Cox Plate with Sportingbet ahead of internationals Dan Excel ($14), Magician ($15) and Mukhadram ($15).

"Punters had been treating Carlton House’s Cox Plate prospects with caution and the money had pretty much dried up for him over the past month," Sportingbet's Andrew Brown said. "Since the nominations were announced last Tuesday, there was only one bet of $23 for him. Sacred Falls is our worst result at this stage, including a bet of $2000 at $41, and he’s been by far the best backed in early markets."