Local galloper Mighty Me showed his penchant for his home track at Pukekohe when he downed a quality line-up of rating 82 runners over 1200m on Sunday.
The lightly raced eight-year-old held out the spirited challenges of Midnight Runner and Excelleration to record his fifth career victory from just 24 starts and his second from just four runs at the venue.
Trainer Joanne Surgenor noted the improved track conditions, which saw the Pukekohe surface rated a Dead5, had played their part in the victory.
“He’s been going some nice races in his last couple although I felt he might need a better track now,” she said.
“Nice tracks seem to suit him so we will keep going for a bit longer as normally we would have turned him out for the summer by now.”
The race saw the return of one of last season’s top three-year-olds in Demonetization, who was making a fresh start in a new campaign after injury saw him put aside following a victory in the Gr.2 Auckland Guineas (1600m).
The All Too Hard entire was sent out favourite for the race and was seen putting in good strides in the closing stages to finish an eye-catching fourth.
