Godolphin colt Beau Geste continued the promising start to his career by outgunning a quality field of up-and-comers at Rosehill.
Although the three-year-old was guilty of ove racing early in a Benchmark 74 Handicap (1300m), he regained his composure under Brendton Avdulla to claim a clustered finish.
Beau Geste, the $2.40 CrownBet favourite, had main rival Paret covered on the run home, a task made easier by the Chris Waller-trained colt losing focus at the 100m.
“That was a really strong bunch of three years olds,” trainer James Cummings said.
“Our race wasn’t really run to suit him , he wanted to overdo things in the early stages.
“Brenton was probably sensing that he had (Paret) behind him and he could hold him safely.
“I’m impressed with the way he was able to knuckle down and get the win.”
Our Mantra ($18) finished strongly to finish second, a half-neck behind Beau Geste and Paret ($2.50) was a half-neck third.
Cummings was unsure where Beau Geste would head next after his second win in three starts.
“We’ll have a good think about it, one thing I don’t like doing is stepping these horses up in distance too quickly when they’re still learning,” he said.