Trainer Caspar Fownes' Windicator Star continues to be his own worst enemy at the starting gate, but was again hitting the line with plenty of purpose at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.
Windicator Star arrived with promising form, having won both his starts in good fashion in Australia as The Kitkat Kid for trainer Robert Smerdon over 1,000m on a synthetic surface at Geelong and 1,200m on the turf at Sandown with the tongue-tie on.
He has gone with a hood on raceday since his arrival and the four-year-old didn't look to be ready in his first Happy Valley start in March, then a left foreleg problem in April saw him disappear from racing until July.
But he showed he may be ready to live up to his potential with solid trial outings and workouts, but the bad manners have cost him of achieving that.
Drawing gate 11 for his latest appearance - third run for the term - in the Class Three Dallas Handicap (1,200m), Windicator Star again flopped out of the gates and, on this occasion, giving the field a four-length head start to settle a distant last behind the runaway-leader Romantic City.
He angled into the clear widest out at the 300m with still nine lengths to make up and sprouted wings to close the margin on Romantic City in the end for a three-length third.
The gelding looks a useful sprinter and only needs to get his act together at the start to be winning his share of race - possibly with a return to the tongue-tie or just the removal of the hood altogether, but Fownes' knowledge and experience will eventually get things right for the four-year-old.
He is the first local progeny of Danehill stallion Gonski, who was a Listed winner of the Concept Sports Stakes (1,410m) at Flemington among his two wins, two placings and a fourth.
His dam, Sharna Cabarna - a daughter of Dolphin Street - was a triple winner from 1,000m to 1,200m, and has produced two other sprinters in Old Mates Act (by Testa Rossa) and Navillus Superman (by Bel Esprit).
