by Mike Curry

Whobegotyou signaled his readiness for the Tatts W. S. Cox Plate (Aus-G1) and Starspangledbanner surged to his first win at the highest level on Saturday at Caulfield.

Whobegotyou benefitted from a gutsy ride by Damien Oliver and he was positioned closer to the pace than normal in a three-quarter-length score in the Caulfield Yalumba Stakes (Aus-G1), one of three Group 1 races on Saturday’s card at Caulfield.

“I had to make up my mind early and I thought if I had to go back and then come around them it would have given him too much to do,” Oliver told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I backed the horse's ability. When the gap came in the straight I had to push my way through and the horse was good enough to do that.”

The four-year-old Street Cry (Ire) gelding completed 2,000 meters (9.94 furlongs) in 2:01.57 on turf rated as good to prevail as the 1.90-to-1 favorite.

A three-time group stakes winner at Moonee Valley, Whobegotyou certainly appears to be a horse for course leading up to the 2,040-meter (10.14-furlong) Cox Plate, Australia’s weight-for-age championship.

“He's got a good record at Moonee Valley,” said winning trainer Mark Kavanagh, who conditions Whobegotyou for owner Lawrence Eales. “So he looks right on track.”

After trailing the field early, second betting choice Heart Of Dreams finished three-quarters of a length in front of Vision And Power. Joe Pride, trainer of Heart Of Dreams, said he believes the Show a Heart gelding can turn the tables on Whobegotyou in two weeks given softer ground for the Cox Plate.

“All I want now is a wet track in the Cox Plate,” Pride said. “He's a five-length better horse on a wet track. We've just got to get one.”

Starspangledbanner sprung a mild upset at 13-to-1 odds in The Age Caulfield Guineas (Aus-G1), dispelling questions about his distance limitations with a front-running 2 3/4-length victory in the 1,600-meter (7.95-furlong) race for three-year-olds.

The Choisir colt completed the distance under jockey Danny Nikolic in 1:35.69 in his first start at 1,600 meters.

“He's very, very solid,” Nikolic told the Australian Associated Press. “It was always going to take a good horse to beat him. He's a very good racehorse and he'll make a good stallion.

“I'm rapt.”

Starspangledbanner entered off a fourth-place finish in The Age Caulfield Guineas Prelude (Aus-G3) at 1,400 meters (6.95 furlongs) on September 19.

“I thought he was a 1,000-meter to 1,200-meter horse originally,” Nikolic told the Herald Sun. “He just makes his own luck and keeps running fast sectionals. He just keeps surprising.”

Also on the card, Allez Wonder edged Gold Salute by a neck to post a 45.10-to-1 shocker in the David Jones Toorak Handicap (Aus-G1) for three-year-olds and older. The four-year-old Redoute’s Choice filly completed the distance in 1:35.09 to secure her first group stakes win.

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor