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By Ray Hickson

Under rated colt In The Congo announced himself as a serious sprinting three-year-old as he defied a classy field in taking out the Group 3 $160,000 XXXX San Domenico Stakes (1100m) at Kembla Grange.

Trainer Adrian Bott. (Pic: Bradley Photos).

It was supposed to be a match between Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside and Godolphin colt Paulele but nobody told In The Congo as jockey Tim Clark executed the plan from co-trainer Adrian Bott to “take bad luck out of the equation” and lead all the way.

“We used that tactical speed that he has got and from the nice draw that helped,’’ Bott said.

“Didn’t necessarily have his own way throughout but I thought it was a great effort to really fight them off and dig deep late.

“I knew he would dig in deep. He is that type of horse. He showed that in his previous run. He is very courageous when the pressure is on so it’s great to see him pull out plenty.”

In The Congo ($7) held off a wall of challengers to beat a game Paulele ($1.95), who lost no admirers, by 0.25 lengths with Champagne Stakes winner Captivant ($17) a neck away in third.

Stay Inside tracked Paulele into the straight and momentarily loomed but weakened late to finish fifth and has to be marked as disappointing.

It was Bott’s co-trainer Gai Waterhouse’s first win in the San Domenico since Sliding Cube in 2007 and Clark’s third following wins on Va Pensiero (2013) and Obsequious (2010).

Bott said the Group 2 $300,000 Roman Consul Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on October 9 is the likely short term target for In The Congo with the stable keep to keep the colt to the sprint trips.

“We will have a chat with (Newgate boss) Henry Field and connections, map out a plan,’’ he said.

“We’d like to keep him to the sprint distances. Certainly he’s a real out and out speed horse I feel.”

Clark said he gave In The Congo a fighting chance of turning the tables on Paulele from their clash in the Rosebud earlier this month where he didn’t get too many favours before rallying to finish second.

“With the weight pull I just felt if I had have been able to get out and get a margin on him, it would have made it hard for him to run him down,” Clark said.

“But today the race set up as though he was going to get the lead and he was going to be able to make his own luck and we would find out if he was good enough or not. I couldn’t have been happier with how he worked Tuesday morning. He went great.

In The Congo wins the San Domenico Stakes

“We knew what we were going to get from him. It was a matter of whether he was good enough. He showed today that he definitely is.”

Stay Inside drifted in TAB’s Everest market to $11 after his unplaced effort while Paulele held his place on the $15 line.

Meanwhile, Masked Crusader firmed into $6 for the TAB Everest with his first-up win in the Group 3 Heath (1100m) at Caulfield.

The five-year-old, under 60kg, swung for home in last place but arrived in time to kick off his TAB Everest campaign in impressive style. He has the Max Whitby and Neil Werrett slot in the TAB Everest on October 16.

All the results and replays from Saturday's Kembla Grange meeting