The Ricardo Le Grange pair of Mighty Emperor (Nooresh Juglall) and Super Joe (Barend Vorster) looked like they would settle down for a good go after they both swept past their third stablemate Verbal Link (Matthew Kellady) at the top of the straight.

But they had not reckoned with eight-year-old Supernova ($45) finishing over the top of them right on the outside. For a second, it looked like Mighty Emperor might stick his head out to hold an edge, but Vlad Duric did not let up on Supernova who lunged at the post to get up by a nose.

 

Mighty Emperor beat Super Joe by a short head for second place. The winning time was 1min 45.91secs for the 1700m on Polytrack.

Supernova, who was Marsh's only runner for the night, was bringing up his ninth win in 50 starts for stakes earnings that have now tipped over the half-a-million mark for the Tudor Lodge Racing Stable.

It was only his second time venturing over 1700m, with the first test ending with a disappointing last place in October. Marsh had a good hunch the second attempt could not be any worse than the first.

"He's been ridden quiet over 1400m and he finished so strong. So, I was quite confident he could get the trip," said the New Zealander.

"Not to mention he is also a good Poly horse. Think that's his seventh win over the Polytrack.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure he won. I had to see the run on the TV replay."

Duric was actually the last jockey to score on the son of Elusive City on January 20 in a Class 4 race over 1400m.

"I know this horse well and tonight, he was well prepared by Bruce," said the leading jockey.

"He's been running in better company and ran better when he came back to Class 4. The trip was a question mark, but when he went over more ground last time, it was in harder races."