Fabrizio made a return to the winners circle, leading all the way to take out the Group 3 Hawkesbury Gold Cup (1600m) last Saturday.

Producing a poor effort when favourite in a Benchmark 100 the start prior over 1400m, the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained runner appreciated the step up in trip to claim his eighth win from only 14 starts.

With Jason Collett on board, Fabrizio was taken straight to the lead from the inside draw and was able to hold off his rivals over the concluding stages with Moher a length away in second and Testashadow not far away in third.

Fabrizio returned a new career peak Timeform figure of 111, two pounds above his previous best achieved when winning in Listed company at Flemington last year (1800m) on Melbourne Cup day.

The five-year-old gelding ran three pounds below 2016 winner Amovatio but is the fourth highest rated winner of the race in the last ten years interestingly all of them geldings.

The Racing and Sports Field Strength value of 110.1 is slightly below par for a Group 3 race and below the 114.2 of last years renewal.

Waterhouse indicated Fabrizio will more than likely line up in the Chairman’s Handicap (2000m) at Doomben next start rather than progress to Scone.

Of the beaten runners, Moher ran to 101 in second, seven pounds below his previous best achieved when winning at Randwick before a spell last campaign.

Testashadow in third appreciated the drop in grade and an to 108, the same figure as his third placing to It’s Somewhat in the Group 2 Ajax Stakes.

Earlier in the programme the big priced Shazee Lee came from back in the field to claim the Group 3 Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m), getting the better of Prompt Response in second with Salsonic third.

Prompt Response was the only runner to settle up on the speed and feature in the finish but was narrowly beaten by Shazee Lee over the concluding stages.

Finishing worse than midfield in the Provincial Championship Final (1400m) the start prior, Shazee Lee jumped at the price of $51 for the Guineas having not even placed in city company yet alone win.

The Scott Singleton-trained runner returned a new career peak Timeform figure of 95, six pounds above his winning effort in the Provincial Qualifier at Hawkesbury.

Not surprisingly Shazee Lee is the lowest rated winner of the race since its inception in 2000, running significantly lower than 2016 winner Spill The Beans (115) with the last filly to win the race Najoom running to 101p in 2015.

Prompt Response who carried the 55kg in second ran to 97, only beaten a quarter of a length, running well below his previous best of 103 in the PJ Bell Stakes resuming.

Salsonic in third also ran to a new career peak Timeform figure of 98, two pounds above his third placing behind Invincible Gem in the Group 3 Spring Stakes last campaign.

With fillies completing the quinella, this is the first time this has happened in the Hawkesbury Guineas with only two other fillies winning the race previously.

The final Group race of the day saw Shillelagh take out the Group 3 Godolphin Crown (1300m).

Also settling back in the field, the Chris Waller-trained runner was able to make good ground in the straight to run out a narrow winner over Daysee Doom in second with Kinshachi over a length away in third.

The former NZ galloper ran to a new career peak Timeform figure of 105, her highest since beating Sovereign Nation at Caulfied late last year.

Shillelagh is the lowest rated winner of the race since first Aerobatics’ first Crown win in 2013 and the lowest rated winner since the race became a Group 3 event in 2014.

Recent renewals have Nancy (2016) and Solicit (2015) both running to 109 with Aerobatics returning a Timeform figure of 107, the second year she won it in 2014.

Daysee Doom in second was unable to run up to her Emirates Stakes second placing (107), returning a figure of 102 after settling up on the speed.

Kinshachi in third returned a Timeform figure of 99, one pound above her win at Eagle Farm late last year.