Poor old Hartnell is used to being made to feel second rate when he takes on Winx, but this time it was the Darren Weir trained wild child Humidor that was giving him a thrashing.
Hartnell ran his usual honest race and did look the winner until the Australian Cup hero Humidor shot past him as though he was tied to the fence.
Fit and ready to roll at his third run back, Humidor charged home from back in the field for Damian Lane to win by a commanding three and a quarter lengths.
It was heady stuff and a performance that will have this son of Teofilo (IRE) right
in the markets for all of the big majors.Lane won last season's Australian Cup on Humidor and is credited by trainer Darren Weir for doing much of work to harness the energy of the sometimes recalcitrant five-year-old.
"He just smashed them," Lane said. "He's a great talent and he's really starting to put it together now.
"He just lobbed along at the back there and even though I had them all in front of me I thought I was the winner a long way from home.
"Credit to Darren and all the team, they've got a great knack of getting horses to relax and this horse has come such a long way since joining the stable.
"It's great to add another Group One to my record and after hitting the deck earlier I'm just glad to be able to get back out there."
Weir said Humidor has always shown him great promise since transferring from New Zealand.
"He's always shown great promise and that was unbelievable really. It's just always been a matter of getting his manners right and I think we're winning the battle," Weir said.
"Damian's done a lot of the hard work with him, getting to Casterton and Coleraine and those places with him. He had a gallop at Casterton on Monday actually and didn't go ideal but he's had a good week since then."
Weir said he began to feel confident when he saw the way Humidor was travelling around the home turn.
"When I saw him tracking up behind them after they'd gone along at a fair pace I thought he'd let go but I didn't think he'd let go like that," Weir said.
"The Caulfield Cup has been the plan with him all along and that's where we'll head."
Humidor has the overall record of six wins and seven placings from 18 starts and has won over $1.8 million in prizemoney.
One of 70 stakes-winner for Darley's high class shuttler Teofilo, Humidor is from winning Zabeel mare Zalika, a grand-daughter of Champion Sprinting Filly Habibti, a half-sister to legendary blue hen Eight Carat (GB).
Teofilo stands at Darley at a fee of $44,000 this spring.
