Corey Brown threw down the gauntlet to Nash Rawiller in the race for the Sydney jockeys' premiership with four winners at Rosehill, including the day's feature race on Illuminates.Brown came with a brilliant finishing burst on Illuminates ($5) to take out Saturday's $100,000 Listed Civic Stakes (1400m) by a half-length over the Rawiller-ridden Falaise ($9.50) with the favourite Madibagold ($4.40) a further short neck away third.Illuminates' win followed victories for Brown on Agister, Back On To

Corey Brown threw down the gauntlet to Nash Rawiller in the race for the Sydney jockeys' premiership with four winners at Rosehill, including the day's feature race on Illuminates.

Brown came with a brilliant finishing burst on Illuminates ($5) to take out Saturday's $100,000 Listed Civic Stakes (1400m) by a half-length over the Rawiller-ridden Falaise ($9.50) with the favourite Madibagold ($4.40) a further short neck away third.

Illuminates' win followed victories for Brown on Agister, Back On Top and Triple Elegance to cut Rawiller's premiership advantage to just three after Rawiller won the day's opening race on Killian.

There are nine metropolitan meetings of the season remaining.

"I hate getting on radio the day before the races or in the papers saying what a great book of rides I've got," Brown said after Illuminates won.

"I'm not saying it's a bad omen or anything but I did it a couple of weeks back and it went pear-shaped.

"I didn't say anything this week but on paper I thought it was the best book I've had for a while.

"Although I thought it might have went pear-shaped after the first when I got beaten on the favourite (Key West)."

Brown was having his first ride on the Graeme Rogerson-trained Illuminates in the Civic Stakes and rode her to her usual pattern, sitting back in the field before letting her unleash with the final crack at the leaders.

"I was telling Claire Bird (owner Gerry Harvey's racing manager) after the race that Illuminates is a funny little thing," Brown said.

"She's a great ride but she gives you a bit of a false feel, you're not really sure how well she is going to quicken and how she'll hit the line.

"She took a bit of winding up in the straight but once she did, she let down really well and I'm not saying it was all over but I knew I had Blake (Shinn on Informality) covered."

Rawiller had positioned Falaise on the pace outside leader Bejewelled and said the gelding tried his heart out.

"He really ran his heart out, the winner went past really quickly and I reckon if it had turned into a dogfight my bloke might have won," Rawiller said.

"But the winner went past too quickly."

Illuminates took her record to nine wins and 16 placings from 52 starts for prizemoney in excess of $810,000.

The mare could be having her final racing preparation but Bird said they might "reevaluate that now" after her Civic Stakes win.

Brown, meanwhile, said he would "keep chipping away" in the final month of the season.

"My big plus is that when I broke my collarbone (in late March) I had seven weeks off," he said.

"I know it was a bad time to be off, but now I've come back and feel like I'm riding well.

"I'm fit and focused and everything is falling into place."

Rawiller is chasing his first Sydney jockeys' title while Brown edged out Darren Beadman to win in the 2001/02 season.