Royal Rapture earns shot at G1 Toorak Hcp

Royal Rapture has earned a shot at a Group One race after continuing his winning streak in Melbourne.

The Darren Weir-trained gelding raced to his fifth-straight win in Saturday’s Moniek Sambor Tile Importer Handicap (1700m) at Caulfield, chasing down leader Mihany inside the final 100m to win by a long neck.

After winning a benchmark race at Flemington in late July, the seven-year-old gelding has added another four open handicap wins to take his overall record to 15 wins from 45 starts.

“We’ll thrown him in the deep end now and have a go at the Toorak I think,” Weir said.

The Group One Toorak Handicap (1600m) is at Caulfield in two weeks.

“He deserves his chance,” Weir said.

“To win five in a row in town is a pretty good effort.”

Weir said the gelding was a genuine racehorse who had been aided by good barrier draws which have allowed him to be produced at the right time in his races.

“When he gets the right run he can really let rip late, so hopefully he draws well in a couple of weeks,” he said.