Six-year-old stayer Titch scooted clear of the field in the run home to win the $NZ1 million Auckland Cup over 3200 metres at Ellerslie on Wednesday.
On a dead track he scored by 1-3/4 lengths from the favourite Showcause with Castle Heights a long neck away third.
Showcause beat Titch into second place in the New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton in November but could not peg him back this time.
“I couldn’t have had a better run,” winning jockey Opie Bosson said.
“He was cruising the whole race.”
The Kevin Myers-trained Titch lobbed along midfield most of the way and joined in as the 17 runners streamed around the final bend.
He pulled out of the pack halfway down the straight and nothing could match his finishing run.
Showcause came from well back to loom into it at the turn but couldn’t match Titch despite a 1.5kg pull in the weights.
Titch, a gelding by sprinting sire Lord Ballina, appears to have got his stamina from his dam Our Sophie, a Kaapstad mare.
His Group One victory on Wednesday took his record to 13 wins from 33 starts.
NZPA WGT
