Tough as teak stayer Maygrove produced a never say die effort to take out the group three Counties Cup (2100m) in a thrilling four-way finish yesterday.
The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman trained grey had to lump the equal topweight of 60kg and give weight to all bar stablemate Saint Emilion in the Pukekohe feature, a fact that had his connections concerned about just how effective he could be in the contest.
"We didn't expect him to win with the weight," said Bruce Perry, speaking on behalf of owner Lib Petagna, after the race.
"He's just so game, he's brilliant.
"At one stage Murray wasn't going to come here as the horse doesn't like going this way around, but we thought the good thing would be he might run some rating points off which would make him competitive next time."