With the roar of the crowd ringing in his ears, Damien Oliver steered Apache Cat to victory at Moonee Valley to set the popular sprinter up to take on the world.As the big white face of Apache Cat poked through along the rail in Saturday's Group Two Schweppes Stakes (1200m), the punters gave voice to their champion as he beat stablemate Mic Mac by a short neck.As Apache Cat returned to a reception befitting his status, trainer Greg Eurell marvelled at his fighting qualities."It is a magic moment

With the roar of the crowd ringing in his ears, Damien Oliver steered Apache Cat to victory at Moonee Valley to set the popular sprinter up to take on the world.

As the big white face of Apache Cat poked through along the rail in Saturday's Group Two Schweppes Stakes (1200m), the punters gave voice to their champion as he beat stablemate Mic Mac by a short neck.

As Apache Cat returned to a reception befitting his status, trainer Greg Eurell marvelled at his fighting qualities.

"It is a magic moment," Eurell said.

"I could feel the crowd behind him.

"To have a horse like this and to have another one who has run second is very special.

"Apache Cat will go to Hong Kong. We have some unfinished business there and maybe he can make amends.

"And it was a terrific ride, the best you'll see.

"Damien is patient and the utmost professional."

Apache Cat finished third in the 2008 Hong Kong International Sprint and Eurell is mindful this year's race in December could be his last chance to show the world how good he is.

"We have to be careful where we go with him now and will probably ease off him," he said.

"Originally I thought he would run in the Patinack Classic in two weeks but now the option is to go to the Hong Kong Trial instead.

"Mic Mac will go to the Patinack. He is a quality galloper and in 12 months we will see a very, very good horse."

Oliver bided his time on the fence in the expectation race leader Bank Robber would roll off and he got his wish late.

"I thought Bank Robber would roll off the fence and that's what happened," he said.

"The crowd was going nuts.

"He is a legend, a superstar."

Apache Cat went out the $3.40 favourite ahead of Lucky Secret ($4) and Mic Mac ($6.50).

Bank Robber ($16) held on for third a half-length behind Mic Mac while Lucky Secret, who set a 1000m track record at Caulfield last start, finished fifth.

"He's had two hard runs which may have taken the edge off him but he was very gallant," jockey Nash Rawiller said of Lucky Secret.

Three years ago, Apache Cat ran seventh in the Cox Plate and Eurell switched his career around to concentrate on sprints.

Since then he notched a long list of Group One triumphs and his record stands at 19 wins from 41 starts for prizemoney in excess of $4.5 million.