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Fawkner Park announced himself as the new kid on the block in the staying ranks with his outstanding performance in defeat in the Premier’s Cup Prelude (1800m) at Rosehill.

Punter’s Intelligence sectional data showed the gelding produced easily superior figures to his rivals, clocking 33.86 for his last 600m.

He was able to break 11 seconds (10.98) from the 400m-200m and his last 200m of 11.27 was also the fastest of the race.

It should be noted that the winner Bold Mac’s sectionals couldn’t be recorded but Fawkner Park did spot him around three lengths at the 200m and ran him to about a head.

You’d imagine Fawkner Park will progress to races like the Group 3 Premier’s Cup (2000m) at Randwick in two weeks, where he should still get in with a light weight, and the Group 3 Newcastle Cup (2300m) in mid-September.

Newcastle would very much be on the radar of Kalapour given he’s from the Kris Lees yard. He was just ahead of Fawkner Park in the run and stole some ground through the field but was also strong late running 11.33 for his last 200m.

There’s only so much we can take out of the Group 2 Missile Stakes (1200m) given the interference caused around the 300m mark but the winner I Am Me showed she’s come back in good order with a controlled all the way win.

She established the lead quickly with 24.21 for her first 400m and just sustained a good gallop with sectionals in the mid-11 second range to the post.

Argentia produced the race’s fastest last 200m of 11.35 as she recovered to run fourth and could meet I Am Me again in the Sheraco Stakes (1200m) in a month’s time.

One of the eye-catching runs of the day came from the Chris Waller-trained For Victory, an import having his second run in Australia, who flashed home for third behind Wategos.

He was coming back from a mile of his first-up run to 1350m and posted a last 600m of 34.06 which is over two lengths faster than anything else in the race.

It’s a similar story with the last 200m, he ran 11.55 and that was about 1-1/2 lengths faster.

We know he can step up in distance given his win in France was over 1600m and with only six starts under his belt there’s some upside.

State Of America is a horse that might not have come onto many people’s radar given he ran sixth of eight behind Ivan’s Hero first-up at 1400m but his trainer David Payne has plenty of room to move with the four-year-old.

He carries a 59 rating so was racing well out of his class in the Benchmark 72.

But he managed to post the race’s fastest last 600m of 34.29 and he actually produced the fastest sectional for every 200m split from the 1000m to the post. He’ll be looking for a mile or further next time and keep an eye out for him down in grade.

Fastest last 600m: Super Bright 33.25

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