After mare River of Gold won a second consecutive race in Canberra, Beer sent her north for a Queensland Oaks campaign, only to watch her finish a distant last in the Listed Gold Coast Bracelet in May.

The four-year-old's form since had been average since, to put it kindly, before blinkers and a step up in distance did the trick at Wagga on Tuesday.

River of Gold ($31) was given a saloon ride by jockey Kayla Nisbet sitting midfield, before finishing off strongly to beat the well-backed Trevor Sutherland runner Azaryah ($3.10) by over two lengths.

"She makes you earn your money, this horse," Beer said.

"She won two in a row and I sent her to Queensland on an Oaks campaign and got beat by 15 lengths, I felt like quite the mug.

"She didn't fire at all last prep, but thank god for loyal owners who trusted she was going good at home so we put her away and brought her back.

"Her first-up run (sixth of seven over 1460m at Queanbeyan on Febrary 24) was well short of her ideal trip, but I still thought she was disappointing.

"We poured the work into her and put the blinkers back on second up over 2000, and she's done the job."

Nisbet was rapt to witness River of Gold get back to her best.

"I won on her at Canberra and I really thought she'd go on with it, she won really well that day," Nisbet said.

"She's been very disappointing to be honest since then, but it was good to see her back today. She definitely showed a lot of ability.

"That (Oaks campaign) was a big step up for her and the travel could have taken a lot out of her. It's a credit to him (Beer) to get her back to where she was."

River of Gold will now head to Adrian Ledger Memorial Showcase over 2400m as part of the Albury carnival on March 20, which Nisbet thinks will suit.

"She charged to the line and as a stayer you think you'd she'd be getting better as she goes further into her prep," Nisbet said.

"I think she'll go really close there."

In-form jockey Blaike McDougall began the card strongly by saluting aboard the first two favourites on the card in Rent A Rock ($2.60) and Designer Dance ($2.80).

The Emily and Lucy Longmire-trained Designer Dance settled off the pace before cruising to an easy two-and-a-half length win in the Iron Jack Town Plate Benchmark 58 Handicap (1400m).

"The strong tempo early really suited her today, her racing style is to get back a bit and run on," McDougall said.

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