Champion trainer Bart Cummings produced his first Sydney winner post-equine influenza (EI) when the promising Xavier took out the Vili's Maiden Handicap at Randwick yesterday.
Cummings had ambitious hopes for Xavier, who was part of the strong team of 3-year-olds he had set for spring features in Sydneyand Melbourne before the plans were shut down by the EI outbreak.
Xavier was ridden by Blake Shinn, who slotted the gelding behind favourite Driveshaft before making his move in the final 250m.
A three-horse battle erupted with Xavier fighting hard to hold off Banana Split by a long neck with Zazzle 1 1/4 lengths away in third.
"It's nice to see him win at Randwick, he's got plenty of ability but he just turns off every now and then, so it was good to see him put it all together today," Cummings said.
"He was seeing the lead throughout and the pacemaker stopped just enough to give him a bit of confidence. Once he got to the lead he showed plenty of fight."
The 80-year-old master trainer said more ambitious plans for Xavier could be back on the table.
And David Payne continued his domination of Sydney's 2-year-old ranks when Soho Secret scored a gutsy win to give the trainer his third win and all three juvenile races this season.
Rock Me Baby and Stripper won the other two. The latter caused an upset at Rosehill on December 15 when Soho Secret ran sixth as favourite after missing the start.
Soho Secret again failed to come out of the gates cleanly yesterday but Jeff Lloyd worked hard to get her into a handy position and in the run to the line stepped up a gear.
Over The Wicket chased hard but Soho Secret finished a half-neck in front. Hangover Henry was a head away third. Soho Secret will now go for a break.
