After extending his winning streak to three, Zou Sensation is being considered for a rise in class following his victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Victorian Jockeys’ Association Trophy at Flemington.

The six-year-old gelding by Zoustar produced a tough on-speed performance over 1410m, adding to his two recent Caulfield wins.

Co-trainer Will Larkin, who trains alongside Leon and Troy Corstens, said the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield is a likely spring target.

“He’s definitely a horse that is starting to put his hand up as one that could probably go to a Rupert Clarke in time,” Larkin said.

“We’ll probably be looking at that and, how he gets there, we’ll work it out.

“I think he’s definitely a better horse when he’s chasing and allowed to get cover, so when we go up in grade and get into those better races there’s going to be better tempo and he’s probably going to be allowed to do that.”

Ridden positively from a wide gate by Jamie Melham, Zou Sensation settled on the pace before kicking strongly in the straight to win narrowly as the $2.30 betting site favourite. Running By ($13) finished a long head away in second, with Fortunate Kiss ($11) close behind in third.

Melham described the gelding as self-assured but full of ability.

“He was always going to win then they got to him and he pinned his ears back and got angry and was not going to let them past him,” Melham said.

“He’s just an arrogant horse. He knows he’s good.”

The win took Zou Sensation’s record to seven victories from 25 starts, with his prizemoney now exceeding $500,000.