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He’s at his best on dry ground and at around 1400m so Step Aside’s fresh win at Randwick says he’s in for a preparation that may well see him skip through a few grades.

The gelding has always shown promise, and has a handy record, but there was something about the way he went about it in winning the Terry Marskell Handicap (1200m).

From a midfield position, on a day where it was hard going in the soft 6 conditions, Punter’s Intelligence data showed he ran the fastest last 600m of 34.82 which was more than a length faster than the next best.

He reeled off the meeting’s fastest last 200m of 11.83 to run out a strong winner at his first start since scoring at Rosehill two months earlier.

Step Aside can now graduate to Benchmark 88 grade at least and if he strikes a dry track next time he’ll be hard to beat once again.

Stablemate Invader Zim loomed into the race well but with his last 200m of 12.12 a big drop from his 400m-200m it says he likely needed the run. However, he still ran the second fastest last 600m of 35.

It’ll be interesting to see what two-year-old Grand Eagle can produce going forward after his stunning last to first win in the opening race over 1100m.

He was a clear last coming to the turn after with a weaving ride from Nash Rawiller he exploded with a last 600m of 34.39, almost six lengths faster than those he was chasing, to score.

He’s run 11.15 then 11.13 and his last 200m of 12.11, while a decent drop off, was still almost three lengths faster than the runner-up Akaysha (12.56) who looked the winner.

It’s likely we won’t see Grand Eagle again until the spring where he’ll be given his chance to make it to the Group 1 Golden Rose.

The two-year-olds, who had first use of the track, ran faster than the Midway over the same trip, by 1-1/2 lengths, which is encouraging.

Smashing Time has promised a lot more than he’s delivered so far but his return in the Jeff Pendlebury Handicap (1000m) says it’s not time to drop off him.

He ran sixth but he’s produced the meeting’s fastest last 600m of 34.16 as he closed off the race.

Given the leader Passeggiata was relatively controlled in front and the winner Miss Icelandic had her back, so was able to sprint home in 34.33, it was impossible for Smashing Time to win.

But he’s run a length faster than anything for that final 600m and had to do a lot of chasing while the winner had a soft run and sprinted 11.86 for her last 200m.

It’s no surprise that Spione has run some slick sectionals as he closed in ominously late to run second in the NSW Bookmakers Co-Op Handicap (1400m).

The lightly raced gelding ran 35.93 for his last 600m and his last 200m of 12.28 was particularly dominant almost two lengths quicker than next best.

A couple of stayers put in promising efforts first-up in the TAB Handicap (1600m) – Good Banter ran a race best 36.08 for his last 600m and the fastest last 200m of 12.55 in fourth place.

And So Dazzling ran the second fastest final 200m of 12.63 in running fifth and she has a trend of running well second-up.

Fastest last 600m: Smashing Time 34.16

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