After being four wide swooping on the leaders on the home bend, she loomed clear and Michael Rodd eased his foot off the pedal.
In the final 220m, despite doing little more than three-quarter pace, Atlantic Jewel was still working away from the others.
And those "others" included 11 group one winners.
Successful trainer Mark Kavanagh, who deserves enormous credit, fought back tears.
If he didn't let one go when he said: "There is so much improvement in this mare it's unbelievable," he'll never come closer.
It's A Dundeel finished fourth, almost inevitably striking the trouble promised in running his No 1 barrier draw in a Melbourne weight-for-age race.
James McDonald did a good job of extracting It's A Dundeel from a tight rails pocket at the 220m.
When It's A Dundeel got clear the race was over, but it was obvious who would have won, anyway.
"No, we are sticking to our plan," said Baker when asked from Melbourne yesterday if he would rethink the campaign.
Horse racing is not a game in which you dodge seemingly unbeatable horses.
It's A Dundeel could be a Caulfield and Melbourne Cups horse, but you would look silly taking that path only to find Atlantic Jewel broke down on the eve of the Cox Plate.
As sound as Atlantic Jewel appeared to pull up on Saturday, there will always remain a question mark over her unsound legs.
"We'll go on to the Underwood Stakes [1800m] at Caulfield next start then the Caulfield Stakes or Turnbull Stakes before the Cox Plate," said Murray Baker.
"You'll see a different horse in those races."
Melbourne in the spring is not for the faint-hearted.
Adelaide apprentice Lauren Stojakovic might have been the toast of the Melbourne autumn with her Blue Diamond victory on Miracles Of Life, but rival trainer Tony Vasil wanted her head on toast on Saturday.
"Send her back to Adelaide," said Vasil after declaring Miracles Of Life had prevented Prince Harada winning the McNeil Stakes on Saturday.
Certainly, Stojakovic looked out of her depth when she failed to make the lead, Miracles Of Life racing erratically late in the race.
However, it gave Fast 'n' Rocking the chance to shed his maiden tag and set up a shot at group one spring features.
The David Hayes-trained colt defeated Prince Harada by two lengths with the runner-up striking interference along the inside at a crucial stage in the straight when his jockey Steven Arnold thought the colt was in the middle of launching a winning run.
Hayes said Fast 'n' Rocking would head to the Golden Rose in Sydney if he did well in the next few days while the Caulfield Guineas is his main spring mission.
"He's a really exciting colt," Hayes said.
"It was a bit rough and ready late, there might be a couple of hard luck stories in it, but as far as I'm concerned he'll be pretty hard to beat in anything he runs in from now on."
- Additional reporting AAP
