Cambridge three-year-old Cut Me Loose sealed a tilt at black-type with an all-the-way win at Hastings yesterday.

Rider Mark Du Plessis bounced Cut Me Loose out and dictated the terms in front, easing the tempo before asking him to sprint clear on straightening. From then on it was a one-horse act as the son of Swiss Ace went to the finish a length and three-quarters clear of Twenty One Times.

“He was on and off the bit at Ellerslie and it looked like he was losing concentration, which is why he had the addition of blinkers,” trainer Shaune Ritchie said. “His concentration levels have improved with the blinkers. Mark rode him like he was the best horse in the race.”

Ritchie now has the Gr. 2 Grant Plumbing Wellington Guineas at Trentham on March 18 on the programme for Cut Me Loose.