“He put them away again today but I’ve got a feeling he’ll be better next preparation, he’s still learning what it’s all about.

“It was hard for him to get confidence last prep because he kept getting beat, but now that he’s put a couple together he might come in a lot more furnished horse.”

Hilal looks to be in the mould of a very good miler and, with the Randwick Guineas and Doncaster on offer in the autumn, he will look to step back up to the top grade.

“There’s a lot of good mile races at Randwick in the coming couple of seasons for him, so if he can keep going in the same direction he might be able to level up against some of the better ones,” Berry said.

Co-trainer Michael Hawkes will target a group 1 program with Hilal and believes his last two wins might be the making of him.

“This preparation, he has really started to hit the line and put it all together,” Hawkes said. “Last start, and obviously today, he still wants to lay in, but once he gets clear of those horses he just really fights and wants to hit the wire.”

Queenslander Keefy was brave in second but was simply outclassed.

“He travelled nicely, gave a nice kick, winner was a shade strong for us,” Jay Ford said.

The disappointment of the race was Coastwatch, which overraced and might have come to the end to a long preparation.

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