The Darren Weir-trained Big Duke enhanced his Melbourne Cup prospects with a solid staying performance to win the $500,000 ATC St Leger Stakes (2600m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Big Duke is 23rd in the order of entry for Australia's greatest staying race where he is a $26 chance.
"We always thought he's a realistic chance," Weir stable rep Jarrod McLean said.
"Amelie's Star was really good last week and I haven't laid eyes on the Japanese horse (Admire Deus) yet but he's in Warrnambool now so I'm looking forward to getting back and seeing him tomorrow.
"This horse is a good stayer and he's had a great preparation for it so I'm really looking forward to what the next month holds for him."
Big Duke ($2.20 fav) defeated the luckless Richard Freedman-trained Auvray ($14) by three-quarters of a length with another 2-3/4 lengths back to Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott's Cismontane ($31) in third.
"He has got Group I ability," winning jockey Brenton Avdulla said. "Today I travelled really sweetly. The tempo was good.
"From the six furlongs (1200m) onwards, I was just looking for my way out and I was able to duck back to the inside and I went up the rise with plenty of horse.
"When we got to the front he had a bit of a look around but I reckon if Auvray got to me he would have kept running for me."
While everything in the run went the way of Big Duke, the same couldn't be said for the runner-up.
Auvray was making his run from back in the field coming to the home turn when he ran into a dead-end with the early pacesetter Zero To Ten dropping out quickly.
Auvray was held up for a good distance then got going again and did a superb job to cut back the margin to less than a length.
"We just had to wait for Destiny's Kiss to go and we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Auvray's jockey Kerrin McEvoy said.
"We were so far back that I didn't want to go around them and cover the extra ground so I stayed to the inside but unfortunately it didn't work out this time.
"Full credit to Richard (Freedman), he's got him going great. He was definitely unlucky not to win."
Auvray is also entered for the Melbourne Cup but it's likely he would need to win the ballot exemption race – the Lexus Stakes (2500m) at Flemington on November 4 to force his way into the field. The seven-year-old is 43rd in the Melbourne Cup order of entry.
"He's been up for a long time so we'll see how he comes through today before I decide if we go to Melbourne or not," Freedman said.
"He's still in the Cup but that's a long way off and there are plenty of nice races for him down there if we decide to go.
"He's been up since early this year but he still looks great and dare I say it but I think that was his best run for me."
Auvray is a $251 chance for the Melbourne Cup.
