Jockey Sam Clipperton praised the work of Muswellbrook trainer Jan Bowen after the pair combined to score an impressive win with Casino Kid at Randwick.
Second-up and racing a month after a four-length fourth on a heavy Randwick track over 1100 metres, the five-year-old Casino Prince gelding stepped up to a mile on Saturday.
Well backed into a $7.50 TAB chance, Casino Kid came from the rear of the field and ran down the David Atkins-trained Contributingfactor over the final 200m to win by a third of a length.
The victory came after Casino Kid missed a run in the listed 1500m Winter Challenge, which was washed out and pushed back a week.
Connections opted against running in the rescheduled race on July 30, but Bowen was still able to have Casino Kid primed for the jump up to a mile on Saturday.
Clipperton was impressed with the performance.
"He won very well," Clipperton told Sky Racing.
"It was my first sit on the horse, and watching his replays, he's got a great finish. He can just cost himself races by walking out of the barriers by two or three lengths, but today he actually jumped.
"I was back but I was happy that he was enthusiastic about his job. He jumped into the bridle, travelled nice and I just had to start my run without a cart up into it from about the 500, but at the 300 he was really working through his gears and I was pretty confident I was going to run down the leader.
"He's had a month between runs, and from 1100 straight to a mile, it's a great effort from Jan Bowen and her team, so kudos to her."
It was a fifth win, and third in town, across 26 starts for Casino Kid, which took his earnings past $340,000.
"He's a dream," Bowen said.
"He hasn't had a run for four weeks, but we've come down twice and the races have been put off and we've had to go home, so he's a run short and I thought he would run a big race, but that was just tremendous.
"He's done it on his ear.
"He's had plenty of work at home but we've had rain and everything up there too, so we've just improvised, but I thought he needed a run in between.
"Hopefully he's got a big future."
Runners from the Newcastle stable of trainer Kris Lees filled the first four behind $71 winner Hard Empire in the feature group 2 Missile Stakes.
Wandabaa was second, in front of Gem Song and Enchanted Heart. It was a nice finish for Wandabaa and Enchanted Heart, which are now set for sale as broodmare prospects.
Lees had a city winner at Doomben with Snowzone in a 1200m open handicap.
