Lanciato was one of the first horses to join Mark Newnham's fledgling stable in mid-2016 and he always believed he had potential, now he could test that in the Doncaster Mile.
The five-year-old struggled on wet tracks for his first couple of preparations but what Newnham saw in him at the beginning is starting to shine as he delivered his biggest win in the Carrington Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
"He is such a trier, he kept running good races, but he really needs dry tracks," Newnham said. "If you look at his form since he came from New Zealand it is nearly faultless on dry tracks.
"He keeps improving and we have worked out now he has to be ridden quiet and likes space between runs.
"We could go straight to a race like the Newcastle Newmarket in March and that would get him an exemption into the Doncaster, but we would only go there if it was dry."
Lanciato was backed into favouritism from boom import George Patton and settled back in the field from his inside draw, leaving apprentice Rachel King to find her way through the field. Lanciato showed maturity and the turn of foot of a quality horse when it looked like he was going to get cut out of the race in the straight. He was disappointed for a run at the 300m and had to wait until the 200m to get to the outside of Endless Drama to unleash his winning burst. "The temptation was there to be closer because of barrier one but she did a good job," Newnham said.
When Lanciato found clear air he swooped down the centre to score by three-quarters of a length from Prized Icon, with Endless Drama a game third after being three-wide.
"I just had so much confidence in the horse after the last win that Iknew if I could get him into the clear he would do the rest," King said. "Ijust had to [get] across the heels of Endless Drama at the 200 and when I got there he helped me out by changing legs and had a serious turn of foot.
"Mark said if I keep winning on him I would stay on him and he is a horse that you want to stay on."
The disappointment of the race was George Patton, which dropped out to finish seventh on his Australian debut. He didn't appreciate being in between horses and overraced, prompting stewards to ask jockey Brenton Avdulla if he was happy with his action in the straight.
"I thought it was fine," Avdulla said. "He was fine for the first 100m but he didn't like getting between horses and overraced."
On the other hand, Kris Lees was delighted with dual group 1 winner Prized Icon's first effort for him after an eight-month break as he kept fighting all the way to the line.
"He was closer than we thought he would be and at the 200m Ithought that was it but he found a second wind," Lees said.
Endless Drama was the hard-luck story of the race. Tye Angland went forward but couldn't get in and then dropped back to have only three behind but still three wide.
He loomed in the straight but the effort told in the final 50 metres.
"He went super," Angland said.
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