Brian Ellison's fine week continues as Hardy Bloke gets off the mark for the yard

Brian Ellison's excellent week with his stayers continued when Hardy Bloke got off the mark for the yard in the 1m6f handicap.

Ellison is eyeing a tilt at the Melbourne Cup next month after Onesmoothoperator enhanced his credentials on Wednesday with a striking win in the Geelong Cup.

The stable is operating smoothly back at home too, as evidenced by Hardy Bloke's comfortable success under Ben Robinson for owners Dan Gilbert and Andrew Bruce.

Formerly trained by Emmet Mullins, the seven-year-old started out over fences for Ellison but has slowly developed on the Flat this year, building on an encouraging second at Pontefract last time with a two-length win here.

Robinson was happy with the effort, particularly as the race did not entirely go to plan for the 9-2 favourite.

Speaking to Racing TV, he said: "It's very testing out there. The plan wasn't to be that far back but he half missed it. 

"But they eased up down the back and it was very straightforward from there. With every run he's got quicker, it was two miles and two furlongs last time. He's very versatile."

Dynasty defies penalty

Love Dynasty defied a 7lb penalty and a 355-day absence to extend her unbeaten run to two in the 1m½f novice.

Owned by Clipper Logistics and trained by William Haggas, the daughter of Dubawi drifted out to 11-10 and showed signs of greenness under Cieren Fallon. However, she found enough to win by a neck from Groovy Baby.

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