Group One placegetter Battle Time showed his class, impressively winning the $20,000 Zest 3YO (1400m) in testing conditions at Tauranga.
The son of Battle Paint was tagged earlier in the year as this country's best maidener, with placings in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas (Group One), Diamond Stakes (Group One), Hawke's Bay Guineas (Group Two) and Matamata Slipper (Listed), in his first 10 starts.
The grey colt was spelled after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips after his 2000 Guineas placing, and returned to his latest campaign with a first-up victory at Tauranga on April 16th.
On Saturday, Battle Time and rider Vinnie Colgan settled in third spot, cruised to the lead before turning for home, easily winning by four and a half lengths to Acrylic. Pace-maker Stradivarius battled on well for third place. The winning time was 1:32.24 for the 1400 metre event.
Battle Time is owned and bred by Allan Hayward and trained by Margaret and Tim Carter at Cambridge.
"I was confident today, although a bit unsure of him in the ground. I'm so proud of him and we'll probably put him away now and come back in the spring," said Margaret Carter.
"He's going to go a lot further than 1400 metres. He's pretty versatile."
Battle Time has now had two wins with seven placings from 15 starts and earned more than $170,000 in prize-money.
