Trainer Stephen Marsh had a massive grin on his face at Te Rapa on Saturday and it wasn’t just because promising stayer Roctave had overcome some mid-race difficulties to win the MVP Cars 2100 (2100m) and secure his place in the Dunstan Horsefeeds Stayers Championship Final (2400m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.

Marsh also took stable stars El Vencedor and Well Written to Te Rapa for an exhibition gallop to complete their Boxing Day preparations for the Gr.1 Cambridge Zabeel Classic (2000m) and Gr. 2 Jimmy Schick Shaw’s Auckland Guineas (1400m) respectively, with both coming through with flying colours.

El Vencedor showed he is at peak fitness as he broke 34 seconds for the last 600m of his gallop in effortless fashion, while Well Written also looked happy as she finished off a more sedate gallop that saw her close in around 38 seconds for her last 600m.

“I’m really happy with both of them, they have pulled up well and will have taken plenty out of the day,” Marsh said.

“El Vencedor is going great and the gallop will have brought him on again. I think he is right there now with his fitness and having the services of Mick Dee (jockey) on Boxing Day is also a plus for him.

“It’s great to be able to have the use of jockeys of his class and he knows how to win the biggest races here and across the Tasman.”

Marsh was also delighted to see how Well Written had pulled up from her excursion, her first time back to the races since her triumph in the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton last month.

“She (Well Written) has just been ticking over since she got home from Riccarton, but she is such a clean-winded filly that you don’t really have to do a lot with her,” he said.

“Today was more about giving her legs a good stretch, while getting her back into raceday mode with the float trip and being involved in the atmosphere on raceday.

“We didn’t want her doing too much so she just had a run along and that will tighten her up nicely.

“She has some big races coming up over the next three months, which is so exciting, and she looks a picture to kick that programme off.”

Marsh was referring to the $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) at Ellerslie on 24 January followed by the $4 million NZB Kiwi (1500m) on 7 March, where the filly has been selected by Entain New Zealand to fill the TAB slot.

Marsh was also relieved that Roctave had come through with his victory to claim a spot in the $125,000 Dunstan Horsefeeds Final as the horse looked to be in real trouble when he dropped out to last with 600m to run on Saturday.

“I just didn’t know what to think while I was watching the race,” he said.

“Once he (jockey Rory Hutchings) got him balanced and into clear air coming to the turn he seemed to switch back on and in the end it was a fairly comfortable victory, albeit a very tough watch.

“Provided he pulls up well, he will go to the Final on Boxing Day where he will have the blinkers put back on.

“He is shaping up to be a pretty handy stayer so now he has got a ticket to the big dance I hope he can show us that.”