It was his fifth successive victory for Forrestdale trainer Greg Bond, who is full of confidence that the Badlands Hanover stallion will continue his winning ways in the 2536m Nugget next Friday night.

"It was a fantastic lead-up to the Nugget," enthused part-owner Rob Gartrell. Reinsman Colin Brown shared this optimism when he declared that Ima Rocket Star had gone "super."

Ima Rocket Star, backed from 3/1 to 9/4 second favouritism, simply ran his rivals ragged over the 2130m before revealing splendid fighting qualities to stave off a determined late challenge from star pacer and last season's triple Derby winner Captain Joy.

Captain Joy (15/4), driven by Gavin Lang, took off three wide with 950m to travel and surged home from eighth at the bell to finish a wonderful second, just 1m from the winner who rated 1.58.1 and covered the final 800m in 58.1sec.

Lombo Crusader, who raced without cover early and then enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, finished solidly to be third, with In The Force, a stablemate of the winner, running on well from seventh at the bell to be fourth, just ahead of New Zealand invader Stunin Cullen, who came from 12th and last at the bell.

The shock of the race was the failure of 5/4 favourite Bonavista Bay, who wilted after a tough run to be a disappointing sixth.

Ima Rocket Star started from the No. 1 barrier and was beaten for early pace by Definitely Maybe. But Brown urged Ima Rocket Star forward in the early stages and the horse was able to kick up on the inside of Definitely Maybe and settle down in front after 180m had been covered.

Bonavista Bay settled down in seventh position and Chris Alford vacated his spot in the one-wide line to dash forward after 650m to move alongside the leader at the 1200m mark. But he began to wilt leaving the back straight in the final circuit.

"The big fella was a bit disappointing," Alford said. "He never quickened when I wanted him to. But I'm sure they'll sort him out before next Friday."

The stewards ordered a veterinary examination of the powerful stallion. The vet. found that nothing was amiss.

Brown said that he had a few worries at the start, but was full of praise at Ima Rocket Star's performance. "We were jammed up a little bit at the start and I tapped him up a bit in the first couple of hundred metres," he said. "He did overrace a bit early, but he's a smart horse and he settled down and did the job."

Ken Casellas