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Michael and Matthew Pitman have a black type sprinting double on their home track in their sights.

Michael and Matthew Pitman have a black type sprinting double on their home track in their sights.

The Riccarton trainers bagged the opening leg on Saturday when Enzo’s Lad produced a career-best performance to win the Listed Yesberg Insurance Pegasus Stakes (1000m).

The Testa Rossa five-year-old isn’t in Wednesday’s Gr.3 Lindauer Stewards’ Stakes Handicap (1200m), in which the stable will rely on Kinagat and the last-start Ashburton winner Flying Ibis.

Enzo's Lad executed a long-term plan when he collected his fourth win in 18 appearances.

“In the autumn we were thinking that he would be a lovely spring horse so we put him away,” Matthew Pitman said.

“We’ve always had a high opinion of him and he’s obviously come up really well this time.”

A potential contender for January’s Gr.1 J.R. & N. Berkett Telegraph, Enzo Lad was guided to victory by champion jockey Chris Johnson.

“He travelled like a winner and I got a gap half-way down the straight before it closed and with no weight on his back he was too good for them,” he said.

“I really like him. He’s lightly-raced and getting better with age.”

Enzo’s Lad speared between runners to beat Don Carlo and Signify with the winner’s barn mate Kinagat overcoming a chequered passage to finish fourth.

“He’s gone a really nice race, at the top of the straight he got into a bit of trouble and got going again,” Pitman said.