A week of wasting paid dividends for Richard Cully when the unusually tall rider claimed Saturday's Australian Steeplechase at Sandown aboard Krase.

Jockeys are renowned for their small statures but at 183cm tall, Cully breaks that mould.

Cully began the draining task of shedding the required weight to get down to Krase's 64kg handicap early in the week before the Patrick Payne-trained stayer made the effort worthwhile in the $100,000 event.

"It was a disaster. I hated it and it (64) shouldn't even be a number," Cully said.

"I work at it every day. I was back in the sauna on Tuesday and worked my way down during the week."

Cully rode Krase to a comfortable win at Casterton last Sunday and adopted the same front-running tactics in the Australian Steeple (3400m).

The placegetters Cats Fun ($3.30) and Zaman ($8) looked set to swamp Krase approaching the last obstacle but the $2.80 favourite found plenty under pressure to get the verdict by three quarters of a length.

Cully and Payne also combined to win the famous Grand Annual Steeplechase at Warrnambool with Chaparro earlier this month.

Payne said Krase's fierce competitive streak on the track belied his quiet nature.

"He's just one of the kindest horses," Payne said.

"You could give him to your three-year-old daughter to walk around with and he would not hurt anyone."

Payne said he would give Krase a short break before preparing the seven-year-old for the Grand National Steeplechase on July 27.