Godolphin colt Malahat produced an excellent performance to defeat the older horses in the Schweppes Benchmark 72 Handicap (1200m) at Canterbury on Wednesday.
The three-year-old pushed into a leading position from barrier one before easing to trail Bright Future and Professor Marx. He was then eased across heels and chimed in quickly at the 300m for a comfortable three-quarters of a length victory over the fast-finishing Rockafella ($11) with a further length back to Bright Future ($31) in third.
"He's a really nice colt," James Cummings said. "He's got a good record here at Canterbury, he's got a good record full stop.
"He's got form around all the right horses and it was good to see him beat the older horses.
"It's not the easiest thing in the world to do and we were hoping for him to come here and take a nice step forward from he produced first-up when he was unlucky not to win. He got the advantage of a really good run in the race today."
The performance has prompted Cummings to set his sights higher with the son of Exceed And Excel.
"He's a very fast young colt and if he's up to a race like the Heritage then we'll give that some thought," Cummings said.
"It's not an easy feat for a horse of his age to beat the older horses and he's done that well so he can race well back against three-year-olds."
Champion Jockey Hugh Bowman believes we may still see the best of Malahat.
"He's beaten the older horses today but I'm a little suspicious he might show a lot more when he's in a high-pressure race where he can sit back mid-field or a bit closer and I believe he'll have an electric turn of foot against better class horses," Bowman said.
"He's going to have to keep progressing if he's going to measure up to the better class horses but from what I've felt this afternoon it wouldn't surprise at all if he did."
