Correggio (Excellent Art) has continued his run of good form this campaign in Australia with another victory yesterday at Cranbourne in the A$30,000 De Bortoli Wines Benchmark 70 over 2060m.

The four-year-old gelding was sent out as race favourite on the back of his success to date and settled midfield for Kiwi jockey Cory Parish. Approaching the turn, Parish sat patiently on his mount, not covering any extra ground, before a gap opened upon straightening. Correggio burst through the field and sprinted to the post to win by three-quarters-of-a-length.

The Pencarrow Stud graduate is the only horse that the former American based trainer Murray Johnson has taken to the races since returning to his native Australia earlier this year, resulting in two wins and a placing in three starts this campaign.

“We were happy to get back on the grass and the distance he broke his maiden. We were hoping he would run well, everything indicated he would.

“It was a good heads up ride and the kid (Parish) knows him now. He is a funny sort of horse, you can’t hit him and can’t really make him do what you want, you have to do what he wants,” commented Johnson. “Cory works really hard and deserves the success as much as anyone.”

Johnson has a good opinion of the horse and believes, with his pedigree, he can continue to rise through the staying classes.

“He is a well-bred horse and his breeding is really coming through.

“The horse will switch off and he still has a really good kick at the end of the race, the further they get, the better he gets. If he can keep doing that, he can go up through the staying classes,” said Johnson “I don’t think there is much difference between 2000m and 2400m for him.

“We will look at a lot of options but I think he is up to city grade. The horses around him have done very well and he deserves his chance to step up.”

The win was the third in Correggio’s career from nine starts, earning A$53,725 in prizemoney for his owners Mr M A Ramsden, Mr N J Kenyon, Mr C J Deighton, Mr J C H Clark & Mr S R Bickford.

Bred by Peter and Philip Vela, the half-brother to Group 2 Rich Hill Mile winner Fears Nothing (Faltaat) is out of an unraced Saddler’s Wells mare Magical Moment. Correggio’s second dam, Interval (Habitat), was a Group 2 winner in France and is the dam of stakes winners Short Pause (Saddler’s Wells) and Cheyenne Dream (Dancing Brave) with numerous other black-type winners featuring in the pedigree.

Sold by Pencarrow Stud at the 2011 Karaka Select Yearling Sale to the bid of Tom Magnier/BBA Ireland for $250,000, Correggio is the most expensive yearling sold in the Southern Hemisphere by Excellent Art.

Magical Moment has a yearling colt by Darci Brahma that will be sold at the 2014 National Yearling Sales Series at Karaka and was served last season by Red Giant.