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Age was of no concern for the Joe Pride trained Eduardo after a dominant display in the Group 2 Concorde Stakes (1000m) as he started his quest to the $15M TAB Everest (1200m).

On a day when it was advantageous to settle on the pace with the inside ground being superior, Punter’s Intelligence recorded multiple sectional performers in the testing conditions.

The nine-year-old ran fast time, with the race rating highly relative to the day after adjusting for age, class, track condition and additional factors.

Jockey Nash Rawiller got the gelding into a rhythm sitting outside the leader Malkovich at a moderate tempo before sprinting away from his rivals to score.

Moreover, he accelerated between the 600m-200m split, which he ran in 22.60 and maintained a strong finishing speed to the line.

His figure/effort fits his ratings profile and proved he would again be a top contender over spring.

The Keith Dryden trained Handle The Truth exceeded market expectations and produced a slashing first-up run.

Further, he ran the fastest final 400m/200m sectionals of the entire meeting in 23.80/12.36.

He will be fitter for that effort and watch for him when he drops in grade.

Andermatt was heavily backed late in the trade, and although well beaten, he was honest against the bias. He clocked the second quickest final 200m split of the race in 12.56.

Knights Order was perfectly ridden and had all favours to win the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m).

Additionally, the race was run at an even tempo, with the gelding running the first 1000m of the race in 1:04.61. To put that into perspective, it was approximately 0.5-1 length quicker than the Benchmark 94 handicap (1600m), albeit that race had the last use of the track.

Numerian raced well and ran the races fastest final 600m in 37.50. He will improve over further distance.

Benaud was arguably one of the day’s performances, with his run being full of merit.

Further, he raced wide, had the pace/bias against and still ran the race’s quickest final 200m in 13.00.

The John O’Shea galloper is right on track for his target races and will be a force to be reckoned with under handicap conditions.

Forget the favourite Surefire’s run where nothing went right and is more suited on drier ground.

Zaaki resumed in the Group 2 Tramway Stakes (1400m) and won with ease.

The gelding was suited after leading at a moderate pace running the first 800m in 50.74.

However, the multiple Group 1 winner still did it and ran a strong final 200m split compared to all runners on the day in 12.81.

Icebath was outstanding in defeat after having too much to do. The six-year-old had the pace/bias against her but still made-up considerable ground.

She ran her final 600m/400m/200m in 37.00/24.44/12.50, some of the quickest closing splits of the meeting.

The Brad Widdup trained mare will only improve deeper into her prep, where she produces her peak figures.

Fitness came to the fore in Group 2 Darley Furious Stakes (1200m) with North Star Lass and Willinga Beast fighting out the finish.

However, the run of She’s Extreme had sectional merit, with her running the race quickest 400m-200m split in 12.18 before peaking on her run over the final furlong.

A quick mention of the TAB Highway (1200m) where Opal Ridge had first use of the track but ran sustained strong closing splits with his final 600m in 36.48.

In addition, the Danny Williams trained Jalmari is set to peak third-up after sprinting the race’s third fastest 400m-200m split in 11.87 whilst racing in the inferior ground.

Fastest Last 600m: Eduardo 35.17

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