Sense Of Occasion has returned from a spell in good order with victory in the Group 2 Villiers Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.
The Kris Lees-trained runner settled back in the field before running on strongly to grab a narrow win over Dibayani in second with Sarrasin third.
The $31 outsider ridden by Ben Melham ran to a new career peak Timeform figure of 109, two pounds above his fifth placing in the Group 1 The Metropolitan last campaign.
Sense Of Occasion ran to exactly the same figure as 2015 winner Happy Clapper which is the lowest rated winner of the race since Dances On Waves in 2010.
The Racing and Sports field strength of 112 is slightly below par for a Group 2 race but above the 111.2 of last years renewal.
Kris Lees has indicated he may now change tact with the six-year-old gelding and take him to Brisbane for The Listed Bernborough Quality (1600m) at Eagle Farm on December 31 instead of the Gosford Cup over 2100m.
Of the beaten brigade Dibayani ran to 119, two pounds below his second placing in the Epsom with Sarrasin having his first run in Australia running to 106, slightly below his best last campaign in France.
Earlier in the programme Destiny’s Kiss won his first race in almost a year when taking out the Listed Christmas Cup (2400m) after also settling last throughout.
Running on strongly down the outside, Destiny’s Kiss took the lead inside the final 200m, running out a one and a half length winner over Iggi Pop with Danjeu in third.
The Joe Pride-trained runner returned a Timeform Figure of 109, five pounds above his previous effort in the ATC Cup and three pounds above his career peak, last achieved when third in the Tommy Hill Memorial at Randwick earlier in the year.
Destiny’s Kiss returned a Timeform figure one pound higher than 2015 winner Sir John Hawkwood and is the highest rated winner of the race since Permit in 2013 (112).
Of the placegetters both Iggi Pop and Danjeu ran to 101 a new career peak figure for Danjeu two pounds above his previous best.
The race stacked up pretty well with a Racing and Sports field strength value of 107.7 above the 106.1 of last years renewal.
Winning Rupert was able to keep his unbeaten record intact when claiming his first black type victory in the Listed Gold Edition (1200m) at Doomben on Saturday by over five lengths.
Returning with a Timeform figure of 115+ at Eagle Farm, Winning Rupert ran to a clear new career peak of 119+ on Saturday and looks set for a big preparation ahead.
The Bjorn Baker-trained runner is clearly the highest rated winner of the race since its inception in 2010 with the next highest Sizzling to ran to 108+ when winning in 2012.
Running the 1200m in 1:07.97, Winning Rupert was only 0.09 outside the course record held by Takeover Target set 10 years ago.
Likely to now head towards the Vo Rogue Plate (1350) on New Year’s Eve, should the three-year-old colt win that race as expected he will pick up a $500,000 bonus for connections.
