Taranaki representative Tobias, carrying the black and gold hoops of the Taranaki province, proved too tough in a slogging finish to the ITM New Plymouth Interprovincial (1600m) on Saturday.
Apprentice rider Ellie Sole made good use of her 4kg claim to reduce the 7-year-old’s weight from 61kg to a more manageable 57kg impost as she sat in third before sending him to the lead at the 600m.
With Sole riding hard, the Tony Dravitzki-prepared runner refused to yield as he held out the challenges of Ghazzah, race favourite Who Knows and Drop Of Something over the final 200m, taking the event by more than a length and adding a fourth consecutive victory to his career record.
An emotional Dravitzki was struggling to come to terms with what the lightly raced son of Complacent had achieved in his recent starts.
“That was unbelievable really as I’d never won two races in a row and now this guy has won four,” he said.