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Judges could not split the duelling pair of Strubeli and Gato Negro, declaring them dead-heat winners of the $65,000 Graduation race (1200m) on Sunday.

Gato Negro (Oscar Chavez) who had taken command of the race from the start was holding sway quite comfortably up the home straight until second favourite Strubeli (Lisa Allpress) came launching a stiff challenge at the 200m. The pair remained locked in battle to the wire to eventually share the spoils with favourite Euro Zone (Manoel Nunes) third another 2 ¼ lengths away.

The winning time was 1min 11.49secs for the 1200m on the Long Course on a yielding track. Payouts for winning horses were halved with Strubeli and Gato Negro returning $12 and $14 respectively.

Trained by Stephen Gray for Swiss owner Stephan Herzog, Strubeli, a four-year-old gelding by Elusive City was recording his third win from five starts while Gato Negro, a three-year-old by Oratorio and prepared by Alwin Tan for the Good Brothers Stable, was at his second success in four starts.

Gray said Strubeli was a progressive sort who never shirks a good fight.

“There was a big weight difference between him and the other horse (6.5kg) and he’s done a very good job to win,” said the Kiwi trainer.

“That horse of Laurie’s (Laxon), Euro Zone, is to me a very good horse, and my bloke’s beat him. He’s actually done a bloody good job every time he’s stepped out.

“He never had a chance to lead. I just wished he could get a soft lead one day, but obviously, Oscar had other ideas today.

“We also dropped the winkers today and put the blinkers on, and that seems to have done the trick.

“I think he’s got a good future here. For now, I will just go through the grades with him.”

Allpress, who had combined with Gray earlier for a winning double aboard My Brothers Keeper, was full of praise for Strubeli.

“It was a big step-up for him today. He did it the tough way, but it was still a super win,” said Allpress.

“I think the blinkers helped him a lot. It was a close go, but I was confident he’d won on the line.”

Chavez, on his part, could not be happier with the final outcome given the waywardness of his mount from the top of the straight.

“He was gazing around and was going all over the place,” said Chavez. “He should have won easier, but he’s still a handful and still has a lot to learn.”