St Lawrence kept his perfect record intact on Boxing Day when he struck again on the Hillside course at Sandown.
The Westbury Stud home-bred son of Redwood made it four wins on the bounce after he was successful over 1800 metres.
“He was more workmanlike and it was pretty soft in the end,” said Ciaron Maher, who trains the four-year-old with David Eustace.
“This was the right race for him and he’s come here and ticked another box.”
St Lawrence lobbed along in second spot to the turn before challenging 400 metres from home and stayed on too well for his rivals in the hands of John Allen.
“He was always doing enough to hold on and I always felt I was going to win even though it was not as impressive looking as the last start,” he said.
“There’s still plenty to work with and he’s a nice horse pushing forward. It’s good to keep his winning sequence going.”
St Lawrence was a debut winner at Hastings in April for breeder Gerry Harvey, who remained in the ownership when a syndicate including high-profile owner Ozzie Kheir bought into the gelding.
“It’s a fantastic ownership group and it looks like they’ve got a stayer for the future,” Maher said.
St Lawrence was successful in his first Australian appearance on a heavy track at Geelong in September before he was put aside and returned to score first-up over 1500 metres on a good surface at Sandown earlier this month.
He is out of the Encosta De Lago mare Bacio Del Vinto, also the dam of the G3 Manawatu Cup winner Marroni.
Bacio Del Vinto is a daughter of the dual Group 1 winner Lotteria with former Singapore Champion, G2 McEwen Stakes winner and Group 1 performer The Inferno featuring in the pedigree.
Meanwhile, Swiss Ace home-bred Savanoski remained undefeated this preparation after a pre-race plan was executed to perfection against his Rating 75 rivals over 1200 metres at Pukekohe.
The Harvey-raced five-year-old jumped quickly to make the running and, after dashing clear halfway down the straight, he coasted home under Kelsey Hannan to follow up his resuming course and distance victory earlier this month.
“That was really fantastic, we wanted to lead and then give him a breather between the 800 and 500 metre mark,” trainer Annabelle Johnson said.
“He’ll go out for a couple of weeks now and be back racing again in March.”
Savanoski is out of the Strategic mare Katmai, a half-sister to the dual stakes winner Kakakakatie and the family of Group 1-winning siblings Bonanova, Fraternity and Telesto.
El Roca also made an impact at Pukekohe where his son Novak produced a stout performance to win the Dunstan Feeds Stayers’ Championship Qualifier and trainer Clinton Isdale is keen to get the four-year-old out to 3200 metres later next month.
“He relaxes and stays well so I’d love to get him to Trentham for the G3 Wellington Cup, that’s the long- range plan,” he said.
Novak settled off the pace and rounded off strongly for his second career victory and a record that doesn’t tell the full story.
“He’s a horse that always seems to run into bad luck. I was pretty confident with him as hehad been working so well,” Isdale said.
Out of the winning Swiss Ace mare Wimbledon, Novak is from the family of the Group 1 winner and successful sire Marauding.