Fawkner is back at his best, now the others, the pretenders, have to get there.

First up since the Melbourne Cup, an outstanding performance, and a pearl of a ride tendered by Damian Oliver, he made sure he was not going to finish up in a sandwich.

He scouted wide for the majority of the trip, there was not going to be any horses running out of steam falling back in his path.

Punters remembered his gallant second in the Cox Plate, when the invader, Adelaide, nabbed him right on the post.

An eight year old, giving away age to most of his rivals, he has quickly returned to form, for what has proved a well earned spell.

The win, and how it was achieved, has a great touch of sentiment for the Williams family, certainly for the senior partner, Lloyd, he raced the sire of Fawkner, Reset, who retired to stud with an unbeaten record of five wins, including the Futurity Stakes and the Australian Guineas.

Fawkner will be improved by the run; he will follow a similar pattern to last year, with his next start, the Caulfield Stakes.

Both placegetters, Rising Romance and Entirely Platinum, can be improved ,while Boban can be excused as he was hemmed in for much of the trip, as for Happy Trails, a light of other days, he doesn’t win often, seven out of 52 starts.

Fawkner on the outside about to claim Rising Romance