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By Brad Gray At Rosehill Gardens

Alward has been compared to Antonio Guiseppe by Chris Waller as he plots an identical path to the Group One Metropolitan for the five-year-old French import.

After Blake Shinn whipped around the field to take off on Chatelard at the 600m, Hugh Bowman angled clear to set after the formerly unbeaten four-year-old.

“Gee he is a tough horse Chatelard. He got beaten today but it won’t be the last you see of him,” gushed Waller.

It was a patient ride from Hugh Bowman to see the favourite home at $1.65, having been confidently supported all week with TAB. That’s now two in a row for Alward after an impressive Flemington win the start prior, but his ceiling is still largely unknown.

“You just don’t know this time of year,” Waller said, “We will probably run him again in three weeks’ time which is something we did with Antonio Giuseppe. He won impressively then we backed him up a week later and he ran second in the Metrop. We’ll have a crack at something similar.

TAB reacted quickly after Alward’s victory, tightening his odds in The Metropolitan from $11 to $8 to sit equal favourite with Antonio Guiseppe, who will likely run in next week’s Chelmsford Stakes against Winx, and Sayed, who will be Waller’s lone runner in upcoming Wyong Cup.

Bowman reported that Alward simply “got the job done” but wouldn’t be surprised to see him keep progressing.

“He’s got a bit to do between now and then but I wouldn’t rule it out,” Bowman said.

“I think he’d be more suited to a high pressure race rather than a sprint home.”

All of the results and replays for Rosehill Gardens on Saturday