It was fourth time lucky for Royal Request who carried topweight to victory in Monday's $200,000 Darwin Cup (2000m) at Fannie Bay.
The Neil Dyer-trained seven-year-old son of Bel Esprit had contested the dirt race the previous three years with a best effort of second in 2015 but made no mistake this time under Jarrod Todd, coming from midfield at halfway to finish powerfully in the home straight.
Royal Request ($8) ran to the front 250m out and drew away to defeat Saturday Sorceror ($21) by three lengths with Lieder (7.50) a head away third.
Billet Doux started the well backed $3.20 favourite but never threatened, making up some ground late to be beaten more than 10 lengths into fifth place.
Todd paid tribute to his friend and jockey Roger Booth who passed away from a heart attack following a race at Fannie Bay in July after riding a horse for Dyer.
"This is what we come up here for and I had Roger Booth, a great mate of mine, on my back for this one," Todd told Sky Racing.
"You couldn't fault the horse coming into the race - I love him, I came here in my first year and won the Derby (Northern Territory) on him.
"He's just an out and out dirt horse and he's the real deal."
Todd said he was lucky to be able to get some cheap runs under 60.5kg.
"I was tracking into it at the 700(m) and I kept getting runs but I was three deep at the time so I went back in," Todd said.
"With the weight I just had to keep taking the runs - if I could help him and save a bit of ground then I would.
"All credit goes to the horse - he's a champion."
It was the third win in the race for Dyer who said he went into the race thinking he had the best horse.
"I thought he was the best horse in the race, I was a bit worried when he got the penalty from the Metric Mile last start but he's big and strong and it didn't worry him that much," Dyer said.
"The horse lived up to what we thought he could do and Jarrod deserves a Darwin Cup.
"We've had a rough old time with Roger (Booth) this year but we're thinking of him today."
