ATHERTON trainer Nathan Schofield will look to take seven-year-old gelding Enzeel to Townsville after he stormed to victory in yesterday's Malanda Cup.

On his home Tolga track, Enzeel, at odds of $3.50, finished full of power to win by three lengths ahead of Stoney Planet while pre-race favourite and top weight Sky Mountain had to settle for third.

But with Far North racing about to face a six-week summer break, Schofield will look south to strike while the iron is hot.

It was Enzeel's first win since May last year but he has raced just three times since that victory at Gordonvale. Despite the stop-start preparation, Schofield headed to yesterday's cup with confidence, buoyed by a dry Atherton track and a suited 1100m distance.

"He's been a pretty handy horse, he hasn't won for a while but he's kept knocking on the door," Schofield said. "Sky Mountain is a very good horse but he had a lot of weight on him today so I was fairly confident."

Jockey David Crossland is Enzeel's regular ride but, unable to make the 56kg weight, Schofield had to turn to another jockey. He went straight to class hoop Graham Kliese and was not disappointed with Kliese riding a near-flawless race, settling Enzeel three back on the rails in the early stages of the race before letting him loose in the closing stages.

"Graham rides a lot for me and he was asked straight away and it was a very good ride," Schofield said.

The Malanda Cup victory takes Enzeel's prizemoney beyond the $100,000 mark but more pertinently for Schofield, it adds to a cup collection that includes a Cairns, Mareeba, Atherton and multiple Banana cups.

"Any cup is a good cup," he said.

In other races, the Ralph Baker-trained Naynay showed he has plenty of promise with a win in the Class 2 Handicap.

It was just the three-year-old's third start but he blitzed the field by five lengths over 1000m, beating home the in-form Supreme Chic.

Four-year-old mare Our Rare Gem, out of the Cairns stable of Peter Ryan, won her first Far North race when she captured a Class B Handicap.

The mare had previously been racing in Victoria and South Australia.

The Roy Chillemi-trained Sneak ’N’ Out won his first race back from a spell in a Class 4 Handicap while What's Your Angle, trained by Cairns’ Bill Swinton, secured his first win in the Maiden Plate.

The Far North's next race meeting is at Mareeba on March 8.