Steven Ramsay and Julia Ritchie trained their 200th winner in the blue-and-white-hooped colours of owner-breeder Sir Peter Vela when talented filly Passiflora led all the way in Saturday's Happy Hire 3YO (1200m) at Whanganui.

The Ramsay-Ritchie partnership has now been credited with 200 wins from 1427 runners, with 14 black-type successes including Guiseppina in the Group 1 Telegraph (1200m), Rasa Lila and Dolmabache in the Group 2 Travis Stakes (2000m), and Group Three victories by Amaryllis, Pure Elegance, Rasa Lila and Island Life.

"It's a real buzz for us to train 200 winners for Sir Peter Vela," Ramsay said on Saturday. "He and his late brother Philip have given us incredible support through our careers and we're just so happy to be involved in the team."

Passiflora has emerged this spring as one of the more promising young members of Ramsay and Ritchie's Matamata stable. She was a front-running debut winner over 970m on the Cambridge synthetic track on September 10, then ran third behind War Princess and Lubeck in a strong 3-year-old race at Tauranga on November 1.

Saturday's $40,000 age-group sprint was her third start and she again controlled the race from the front before kicking hard at the home corner. Perfect Habit finished strongly and ate into her margin, but Passiflora refused to let that rival pass. She held on grimly to win by a neck, with two-and-a-half lengths back to the third-placed Our Sniper.