Perast fought-off Summer Passage to record an upset victory in the 2017 Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas Prelude at Caulfield this afternoon.
Summer Passage took up the running from Perast in the early stages of the race, while favourite Royal Symphony settled in the second half of the field.
Perast and Summer Passage opened up a gap on their rivals at the top of the straight and they always looked like they would fight out the finish, with Perast proving too strong in the final stages.
Jockey Damian Lane was impressed with the way that Perast found the line in the Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas Prelude and he believes that the three-year-old will be a serious player in the Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas.
“It probably took me the first 500 to get him to switch off, but he got around the corner well and he was too good,” Lane said.
“It was a big run last week and to back-up a week later was impressive.”
Trainer Paul Perry believes that Perast still has plenty of improvement left in front of him and he is confident that the promising colt will relish the step-up in trip to 1600 metres for the Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas.
“He is a nice colt and he has come down here very solid in condition,” Perry said.
“He has run in a couple of Group 1 races at home and I thought he would run well today.
“His run the other day in the Golden Rose was really good.
“They went very hard in that race and he was attacked all the way.
“I think the mile will suit him much better than today and he can go even further than that.”
Kementari chased home Perast and Summer Passage to finish third, while Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas favourite Royal Symphony was never able to get into the race.