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Close to the mark since his Kranji debut back in June, Strong N Powerful finally hit bullseye with an authoritative win in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1400m on Friday night.
Travelling in an ideal ground-saving spot along the rails from the start, the Golden Archer three-year-old responded with a decent turn of foot as soon as apprentice jockey Joseph See popped him off the fence.
Spotting leader and race-favourite Mr Alejandro (Syahir Abdul) around three lengths, Strong N Powerful gradually cut back that margin as he let down nicely before eventually scoring going away by 1 ½ lengths from Mr Alejandro with Meryl (Alysha Collett) third another 3 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 22.2secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.
Mr Alejandro was the opening favourite from a long way, but at the close of trading, a late betting plunge saw Strong N Powerful topple him as the even-money favourite.
Punters obviously knew where the smart money was. Trainer Leticia Dragon for her part knew her charge was among the leading hopes even if his barrier trials had not set the world alight.
"He's been showing good form at his previous runs, even if he trialled only fairly," said Dragon.
"He's been working well, though, and tonight, he showed the potential we always knew he had."
See had a special reason to hope at least one of his book of four rides (following the withdrawal of Unprecedented in Race 7) would salute on Friday night.
"My good friend Anton from Bunbury was at the track tonight. I wanted to win a race with him around," said See who honed his craft in Western Australia.
"Anton is not involved in racing at all, he is a jeweller. He's my wife's relative, and it was nice to have him lead in this winner.
"We were lucky all the runs appeared at the right time. He's still green and I think he can go up to 1600m."
With that account opener at his fifth start, Strong N Powerful trebles his stakes earnings to around $60,000 for the Strong Stable.