Country-trained three-year-old Steparty has moved to equal favouritism for the Caulfield Guineas after his brilliant first-up win at Moonee Valley.
Unbeaten in his four career starts, Steparty was having his first start at Stakes level when taking out the Listed McKenzie Stakes (1200m) on Saturday.
A debut winner at Ballarat in May, Steparty added successive Flemington wins to his record before trainer Paul Preusker put him aside for a shot at spring riches.
With the first-up win out of the way, the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on September 23 is next on the agenda ahead of the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 14.
Sent out the $2.50 Unibet favourite under John Allen who was replacing the injured Dean Yendall, Steparty raced to a 1-ÂĽ length win from Scentify ($5) with Brave Mead ($3.60) a long-head away third.
“We’ll go to Caulfield next, have a look I think, just tick that box and make sure we’re doing the right thing there too,” Preusker said.
“He just keeps raising the bar, so I’ll be excited to go to the next one, and there’s not much work to do.
“He’s just tick over, tick over so we’ve left ourselves in a good spot and I think the horse will enjoy it and make some improvement, so look out.”
Allen rode Steparty to his maiden victory before making way for Yendall and had not been aboard him since that Ballarat success.
He said the colt had grown and strengthened adding Steparty was not at home at The Valley circuit.
“He has shown good gate speed every run, but he really relaxed today,” Allen said.
“He really fell asleep in the run. I had to give him a squeeze at the 500 (metres) just to wake him up and let him know he was here for a race.
“He crabbed around the corner a little bit, but I liked the way every time I asked him, he responded and galloped right through the line.
“I think when he gets on a bigger track too, and you’d imagine a mile will be no issue either.
“He’s certainly an exciting horse.”
