Handsome colt All Too Hard staked his claim 

 Handsome colt All Too Hard staked his claim to the top of the pecking order of a super 3yo crop following his fourth win at the highest level in Saturday’s $400,000 Group I All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick, reports breednet.com.au.

While the spat between John Singleton and Gai Waterhouse stole the headlines, the victory of All Too Hard was a testament to his courage after looking to be struggling 400 metres from home.

Once Dwayne Dunn balanced the son of Casino Prince up, he stormed home to down the free running Rain Affair by a half-length with another 1-1/4 lengths back to Gaie Waterhouse’s Melbourne Cuprunner-up Fiorente in third.

"The thing is he hasn’t been at his best in Sydney so I was mindful of that,” Dunn said.

  "Today he had to really try hard to run down Rain Affair.”

Co trainer Michael Hawkes said it was an exceptional win as the burly colt has not raced for two months.

"He hasn’t raced for 61 days and got that temperature so to do what he’s done and pull out all stops shows what a gutsy horse he is,” co-trainer Michael Hawkes said.

"He’s just an absolute athlete.”

  "He’ll strip fitter from today and we'll talk to the shareholders.”

  "We’ve got a good system. It’s been a long road. You can’t describe him, he kicks some arse.

"He’s up there with the best (John Hawkes has trained), alongside Lonhro and Octagonal.”

While the half-brother to Black Caviar has most likely run his last race in Australia he has an entry for the Group I Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) at Royal Ascot in June.