Tigerland passed his biggest test yet with a first city win at Caulfield on Saturday and trainer Matt Laurie expects there's plenty more to come from the up-and-coming galloper.
Sent out the $2.30 favourite in the Thomas Sabo Plate (1400m), four-year-old Tigerland made it five wins from six starts with a gutsy short-neck victory.
"I said to the owner, regardless of whether he wins or loses today he's a very good horse," Laurie said.
"Hopefully he's the horse that can give our stable a real boost."
Tigerland is owned by Ken Dean, the brother of former Richmond premiership player Roger Dean, hence the name of his horse.
The Richmond Tigers AFL side went down by a point to Fremantle on Friday night and it appeared Tigerland could suffer a similarly close defeat after jockey Stephen Baster found himself in "an ordinary spot" coming to the home turn.
But Tigerland was able to chase hard in the straight and arrived in time to defeat Little Bro ($14) with a short head to Reparations (($10) third.
Laurie hasn't decided what to do next with Tigerland, which posted four provincial wins before heading to town.
"If we think he's a reasonable horse, he's going to need a higher rating going forward later in the year, so we'll just see how it pans out after this race," Laurie said.
"He's a very good horse. He just keeps stepping up to the mark."
Baster brought up a winning double on Tigerland after opening the day with victory on in-form mare Friday Hussy.
Melbourne's premiership-leading jockey Glen Boss notched his 59th win of the season in the Listed Cattanach's Jewellers Stakes (1400m) on two-year-old The Huntress, which he said "oozed class".
"She is one you want to really follow," Boss said after the Mick Kent-trained filly scored by a length in her second start.
Kent brought up a double when Serene Star maintained an unbeaten first-up record in the Perri Cutten Plate (1100m).