THE Australian Guineas gained another serious contender yesterday with the boilover win of Enjin Number Nine in the Manfred Stakes, but next month's group 1 classic might have lost one of the early favourites after boom colt Star Witness could only battle into third place, reports The Age.It says: ''Star Witness is the benchmark and we came here today happy to run second, but he's [Enjin Number Nine] a talented horse and has got great raw ability,'' said co-trainer Mat Ellerton.Enjin Number Nine

THE Australian Guineas gained another serious contender yesterday with the boilover win of Enjin Number Nine in the Manfred Stakes, but next month's group 1 classic might have lost one of the early favourites after boom colt Star Witness could only battle into third place, reports The Age.

It says: ''Star Witness is the benchmark and we came here today happy to run second, but he's [Enjin Number Nine] a talented horse and has got great raw ability,'' said co-trainer Mat Ellerton.

Enjin Number Nine started as one of the outsiders at $15 yesterday but after enjoying a nice run behind the pace showed great acceleration in the straight to race clear to defeat Bullbars ($7) by 2╝ lengths, with Star Witness ($1.80 favourite) a distant third.


''What he did between the 300 metres and 100 metres was very quick. He gave me a real 'proper-horse' feel when he let go,'' said jockey Glen Boss.

Ellerton said he and co-trainer Simon Zahra had thrown Enjin Number Nine into yesterday's race to see if he could measure up to tougher class, and now the $750,000 Australian Guineas at Flemington on March 5 was a serious target.

''He's six months away from his best, but we are here ... so we will keep going that way,'' he said.