Though he went off at a quote of $30, Brilliant Deal left many punters reeling when he made every post a winning one in the $100,000 Panasonic Imagine Systems Stakes, a Kranji Stakes B race over 2200m on Sunday.

In the small field of six runners, class-wise, the Japanese-bred gelding by Silent Deal along with Magical Talent and Sunny were rightly bracketed into the lower half while Patrick Shaw’s leading pair of Emperor’s Banquet and Alexandra Palace and Laurie Laxon’s dual Group 3 winner Dujardin were the three tipped to make the podium, with the big money rolling in for Shaw’s pair.

It was not only Brilliant Deal’s (Alan Munro) tactically-executed win that bucked the trend, but the placegetters’ spots which were grabbed by Magical Talent (Danny Beasley, 2nd) and Sunny (Erasmus Aslam, 3rd). Favourite Alexandra Palace (Nooresh Juglall) settled in fourth before shuffling to the rear in the backstraight, but when he was revved up for his run, it was soon apparent the lights had gone out.

Emperor’s Banquet (John Powell), who was bidding for a hat-trick of wins, was a shade better as he just missed the money by a neck after taking the trail behind Brilliant Deal from the start.

As for Dujardin (Manoel Nunes), he was in the same boat as the others. With Brilliant Deal dictating terms at his own leisure upfront, the task of playing catch-up was becoming increasingly difficult. The Magic Ring seven-year-old did leave the last spot to move to fourth spot down the back, but he petered out to run last, however only 3 ½ lengths off the winner.

But take nothing away from the winner, who is no pushover by any means, Munro for a gem of a ride and trainer Hideyuki Takaoka. They took the bull by the horns from the start and reaped their just rewards in the end.

Munro said Brilliant Deal, whom he has now partnered to three of his four wins, did pull during the early stages of the race when he forged ahead to a handy lead, but then came back nicely underneath him before going all the way to the wire.

“He jumped a bit keenly and was on it all the way. He’s still learning but he’s a good stayer,” said the English rider.

“But luckily, we were not pressured and he was able to go all the way. I knew we had a good chance when he kicked clear at the top of the straight.”

Takaoka was also of the opinion his charge was a little under class against the two Shaws, but his hopes resided in the saying there is no such thing as a certainty in racing.

“We knew there was no-one with speed in the race and it was always the plan to try and get the lead and ride him for luck,” said the Japanese handler.

“Nobody disturbed him in front and he had a nice run throughout.”

On Brilliant Deal’s future plans, however, the four-time Singapore Gold Cup winning trainer was not getting ahead of himself, preferring to let his charge go through his grades.

“His rating is too low (63 before Sunday’s win). I don’t think he’s a Group horse yet,” he said.