After a disconcerting run on February 18, when he finished a floundering third, Fearless Samurai reignited his surge to the Classic races on Ash Wednesday with a win over his peers and older horses at the non-winners of three level.

It was a quick sprint over five-and-a-half furlongs (1,100m) and

Fearless Samurai, fitted with the blinkers, imposed himself quickly from the number one draw with Omar Walker, eventually winning by two lengths over the tried and tested Bubbling Kitten (Robert Halledeen) withMoney Magnet (Odeen Edwards) third. The final time of 1:06.0 highlighted the noticeable progress made by the sharpFearless Samurai.

After

Fearless Samurai’s February 18 race, trainer Wayne DaCosta was a displeased individual, citing problems with the handling of his charge at the starting gates.

On Ash Wednesday the smile returned to DaCosta’s face, and he also confirmed that his

Fearless Vision –Sayuri charge will next race on March 18 when the Prince Consort Stakes will be run over seven furlongs (1,400 metres).

“The plan for

Fearless Samurai was always to run him in the Prince Consort Stakes before he goes into the 2,000 Guineas. But after his dismal run last time out, I figured that he needed some more experience before the final trial race and so we put the blinkers on him and ran him here today (Wednesday).

“Maybe we might change the equipment again, taking off the blinkers next time. I think going long, he might need the blinkers to be taken off, and so in the Prince Consort

Fearless Samurai will run without the blinkers,” DaCosta informed.

With Omar Walker once again in the saddle,

Fearless Samurai shot into the lead and dictated the early splits of 23.0 and 46.0 seconds ahead of stable companionVision (Jerome Innis) andMoney Magnet.

Fearless Samurai then sprinted away from rivals; however, the chestnut colt began to shorten a bit in the final furlong (200m), but the damage was already done andFearless Samurai got home.

“It was a good performance by

Fearless Samurai to win here. The important thing was that [there was] nothing negative, other than the last half-furlong when he looked as if he had no idea where he was and started to slow down a bit in the race, but it was a good performance overall.

“He was running against seasoned horses and he did well, which is good. I hope he will now leave his negative habits behind. The plan coming into the race was basically to try to get an early lead and Omar got a flyer as the gates opened and went straight to the lead and basically dominated the race,” DaCosta said.