Ipswich played host to feature racing in Queensland last Saturday which saw three stakes winners come out of the meeting.
Coming off a solid effort in the Group 1 Doomben Cup, Maurus produced an outstanding display from back in the field to claim victory in the Listed Ipswich Cup (2150m).
The David Vandyke-trained runner ran out a 3.5L winner over Jumbo Prince in second with Instrumentalist almost seven lengths off the winner in third.
Maurus returned a Timeform figure of 117p, two pounds below his fifth placing in the Group 1 Doomben Cup the start prior.
The win brought up the first stakes success for Maurus who has placed on two other occasions and he certainly looks a horse on the rise.
Maurus is the highest rated winner of the Ipswich Cup, eclipsing Oompala in 1994 (113) who then went on to place in the Group 1 Metropolitan (2600m) and Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) later that year.
Maurus is likely to follow a similar progression during the spring and with more improvement likely to come is one to keep an eye on for the spring.
The Racing and Sports Field Strength Value (RSFS) of 112.3 is about on par with a Group 3 race with Maurus returning a figure 17 pounds above 2015 winner Danchai.
There does not looks a great deal behind him in that race with placegetters Jumbo Prince and Instrumentalist running to 106 and 95 respectively.
Maurus is the only runner out of the race to follow going forward and looks as though he can certainly handle more distance.
Ninth Legion scored another stakes win and his first with the Peter Robl stable when taking out the listed Eye Liner Stakes (1350m).
Settling up on the speed in third, Ninth Legion proved too strong for his rivals over the concluding stages, running out a one length winner over Beckham in second with Steel Zip well back in third.
Ninth Legion returned a Timeform figure of 111 his highest since running fourth to Charmed Harmony in the Group 3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) last year (112).
Ninth Legion ran only one pound below 2015 winner Smokin’ Joey who beat Daph ‘n’ Alf and Ulmann by a narrow margin with the highest winner in recent times Conservatorium who ran to 116 in 2013.
The RSFS value of 107.5 is below par for a listed race and slightly below that of the 2015 renewal of 108.6.
Of the beaten brigade, Beckham in second ran to a new career peak of 97, above his previous best of 92 achieved when winning the start prior at Doomben.
Steel Zip in third with the 58.5kg, ran to 101, his best since winning the Listed Keith Noud at Doomben last year (107).
Blueberry Hill rounded out the stakes winners of the day when coming from well back to claim a narrow victory in the Gai Waterhouse Classic (1350m).
The Liam Birchley-trained runner equalled his previous best Timeform rating of 99 which she returned when sixth in the J.J Atkins last year behind Press Statement.
Blueberry Hill is the equal lowest rated winner of the race since Kryptelon in 2010 (98) running the same figure as Born To Rock (2011) and Gai’s Choice (2012).
Elusive Catch in second ran to a new peak of 95 with Echo Gal in third returning a figure of 94, below her previous best.
The RSFS of 99.7 is well below that of the 2015 renewal 101.7 which saw Real Surreal (103) beat Tukiyo and Fare Well.
