Refulgent showed his rivals the way home at Flemington on Saturday in winning the Brian Beattie Handicap, but still has a long way to go before he can be compared with the horse that bore that name a long time ago.

The original Refulgent was bred by Cec Barnes, a successful breeder at his Canning Downs property, on the fertile lands of the Darling Downs in Queensland; he was by Dalray whose single Melbourne Cup win ranks as the best performance in the post war era.

Refulgent won in all 13 races, from 1000 metres to 2400 metres, his stake earnings were a paltry $ 28,468, a meagre amount compared to the horse of the same name who has earned $125,900, from three wins and four placings.

That amount will surely be exceeded as the present Refulgent looks a pretty handy horse on what we saw of him at Flemington.

He is going to get further than Saturday’s 1610 metres, coming to the final turn there was little behind him, he had to do it the hard way.

Brad Rawiller rode to plan, allowing the horse to settle down before calling on him for what was a huge run and a great win.

Former New Zealander, Pharrell, is not far off winning a race here, he was making up good ground in the run home at only his second start since coming over from the shaky isles, he is in the stable of former crack jumps jockey, Nick Hartnett.

Refulgent surging to the lead