The naysayers who are calling time on Douglas Whyte's reign at the top of the jockey tree gained renewed vigour after John Size ran up a late double and the Durban Demon didn't ride either one.
Whyte went winless, and perhaps the most surprising booking for the card was his commitment to Galaxy Prancer in the ninth race in opposition to impressive Happy Valley debut winner Happy Era.
Whyte, with a prior commitment to the eventual third-placegetter, was caught off-guard when Size brought Happy Era back to run again only 10 days after his debut and the trainer snapped up Brett Prebble. The Australian had an armchair ride to round out his treble and was impressed by what he encountered.
"He's a lovely horse, fairly raw and new and quite compact but with a V8 engine under the bonnet," he said. "He's probably another six months away yet from really starting to show what he can be but he makes his own luck with that tactical speed he's got."
Size said he might not have returned so quickly with the son of Iffraaj but for the programming.
"I was jumpy about the fact there didn't look to be much available for him in the next month so I took the gamble to run again," he said. "He'd had plenty of work before he ran the first time, so I thought he would handle it all right and this didn't look a strong race. Now I can back off him a bit."
As if that wasn't enough, Whyte finished runner-up in the last on Autumn Gold for Sean Woods when 10-pound claimer Dicky Lui Cheuk-yin took the reins on Size-trained Hot Shot and led throughout at his first ride for the champion trainer.
"It was the perfect ride for a claimer," Size said. "The horse is very genuine, he likes to go forward and has run well for apprentices in the past."
