Mr Hanks has bounced back to form with a good win in the $200,000 Group 3 Juvenile Championship at Kranji on Sunday.
Seemingly beaten by the draw in the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe the start prior, Mr Hanks was back to his best on Sunday, able to push forward and settle off the leader for much of the race with Vlad Duric on board.
Taking the lead at the top of the straight, the former New Zealand-trained runner kicked clear and despite tiring over the final 200m was able to score a narrow win over Iffragal in second with Ferocious third.
Mr Hanks returned a Timeform rating of 86, equal to what he ran to in his first up win in the Inglis Ready2race Stakes and certainly looks a much better horse when he can settle on the speed.
Trainer James Peters indicated following the Golden Horseshoe that was not the real Mr Hanks and the addition of the blinkers on Sunday certainly sharpened up the son of Showcasing.
Longshot Iffragal was very good in second, only narrowly beaten after settling xx, also improving significantly from the Golden Horseshoe.
Having now placed in three of her five career runs, the son of Iffraaj should continue to improve into her three-year-old season and certainly does not appear far away from a win.
Ferocious, who was back in the field early made a good run at the 500m and looked a big danger to the winner but peaked on his run to finish third, two lengths away.
Be Bee did not enjoy as good a run as the Golden Horseshoe but still ran well enough to finish fourth and is one to watch going forward.
Earlier in the day, Mr Fantastic also made a return to the winners circle with a win in the Mr Big 2011 Stakes (1400m) his first since October of last year.
Settling third, the Ricardo Le Grange-trained runner did enough to hold off the stablemate Majestic Moments over the concluding stages to run out a half a length winner with Hip Hip Hooray a further length back in third.
Mr Fantastic, ridden by Barend Vorster took full advantage of the box-seat run with the weight and race fitness also on his side compared to the runner up.
With the 57kg and being first up, Majestic Moments, ridden by Nooresh Nunes was arguably the run of the race and looks set to have a good campaign ahead.
He looked the winner at the 200m before peaking on his run and will certainly take good benefit from that effort.
Hip Hip Hooray also continues to make his way into the finish with yet another placing after spending most of the race behind the leader.
On Friday night Sebas secured his first win in over a year when taking out the Open Benchmark 97 race (1000m) given a Gem of a ride by Glen Boss.
Sebas was away well to lead from the favourite Nova Swiss setting a steady pace throughout.
Under Pressure from Olympic Anthem (Michael Rodd) for much of the straight, Sebas was able to respond over the final 200m under heavy riding from Boss to secure a half a length win with Golden Tomahawk third out wide.
