Trainer John Size's Victorius didn't live up to expectations as the favourite in his debut in November on the all-weather track, but appears to be heading in the right direction following a massive run in the Class Three Hoi Yuen Handicap (1,000m) at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.
Victorius was a cosy wire-to-wire winner of his only start at Wangaratta in Victoria over 1,170m on a yielding track as Forthright Opinion for trainer Richard Smerdon before joining Size off a mark of 68.
The four-year-old had a solid grounding for his first-up task on November 14, but found little behind Happy Forever as the odds-on pick.
He then missed an intended run 11 days later at Sha Tin when coming down with a fever. His training regime was back to normal after two weeks of rest, including two trials.
The youngster had to make do with gate 12 with Alvin Ng Ka-chun aboard, but was mopped up late in the betting - 18-1 to 10-1.
He copped a bump at the break by Tomodachi, settled about 14 lengths off leader Ride On The Fire and still had a dozen lengths to make up rounding the final bend. He slowly started to pick things up under hands and heels riding early in the straight before sprouting wings, despite tending to lay in, at the 200m to finish a solid fifth (final 400m in slick 21.97) - two lengths off winner Super Fresh.
He's a son of Not A Single Doubt, a four-time sprint winner in Australia, and has sired Tai Sing Yeh, Dance For Gold, Seasons Star, Enhanced, Freak Zone, True Valour and Vital Smart from nine other starters.
Victorius is the only foal to race from Rory's Jester mare Our Greta.
It's only a matter of time when things start to heat up for this Australian-bred. According to his pedigree, he should be effective sprinting up to 1,400m early on in his career before stepping up to mile with maturity. He should also act on any sort of surface at either track.
