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The Jerome Tan-trained The August turned some honest form into an overdue win in the $85,000 Class 2 race (1000m) on Saturday.

His stablemate, Sacred Gift, came in second to give both Tan and the owner, the Raffles Racing Stable, a race forecast.

After pinging the from gate six, jockey A'Isisuhairi Kasim, also known as Harry, was happy to settle the eight-year-old just off the hot speed set by Bransom (Jamil Sarwi), who was on the rails and had General Command (Manoel Nunes) and Illustrious (Jerlyn Seow) on his outside for company.

The on-pace trio gave The August the cover he needed on settling, albeit three-wide in fourth, with his stablemate Sacred Gift (Iskandar Rosman) and Renzo (Bruno Queiroz) to his inside.

When things got serious in front and Illustrious took the lead into the straight, The August always looked to be travelling the best of the rest with Harry balancing the son of I Am Invincible up before pulling the whip at the 200m.

The August ($81) responded and got within a length of Illustrious at the 150m and when the Tim Fitzsimmons-trained grey started to feel the pinch at the 100m, The August went on to win comfortably by one-and-a-half lengths.

Sacred Gift – sent out at the generous quote of $40 – ran on well to beat Illustrious into third by a neck, with Renzo dead-heating with the fast-finishing Major King (Marc Lerner) another three-quarter lengths back in fourth. The winning time was 58.25secs for the 1000m on the Polytrack.

While Tan was somewhat surprised by the result, he was happy that The August was back in the winner's circle.

"He (The August) just found it hard to win," said the Singaporean handler.

"But you can't fault him as he always tries his best. It was his day today.

"Before the race, I thought Sacred Gift was the better of the two but might find the 1000m too short. The August has been running well of late; never far away in his races.

"I think he appreciated the lightweight (52kgs), as did Sacred Gift (52.5kgs) and things went well for them in the race.

"It was a fantastic ride by Harry. Great for the owners to get some prizemoney and a winning photo."

The jockey agreed with Tan but knew not long after they jumped that The August was on his game.

"I didn't think he was a serious winning chance and I just wanted to give him a good ride," said the Kelatan-born jockey.

"But he (The August ) jumped really well and when Nunes went forward on General Command, I took the sit and he settled really well under me.

"And I got some cover behind Jerlyn (Illustrious), which was helpful as he found his feet and was travelling very strongly.

"In the straight, I thought I was a good chance but took my time to balance him up. When I gave him a couple of cracks with the whip, he responded quickly.

"I thought I had Illustrious covered when I had him in my sights in the last 200m and given how good we were travelling when I whipped him, I knew we would win.

"You can't pressure this horse, so the race was run to suit and I think the lightweight helped too.

"I have to thank Jerome and the owners for supporting me."

The August's seventh win from 46 starts took his prizemoney to over $420,000 for connections.