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Star Rolling has kicked off his Cox Plate campaign with success in the Group 2 P.B Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield last Saturday.

In a sign of spring edging closer, the field assembled for the P.B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) included Group winners such as Foreteller, Lidari and race favourite Puissance De Lune.

Star Rolling capitalised on his more fancied rivals perhaps being underdone first up, positioned prominent throughout and edging clear in the straight for a gritty win in the feature race at Caulfield last Saturday.

The Casino Prince gelding became a dual stakes winner in claiming the P.B Lawrence Stakes with the Caulfield feature his first at Group level.

He came agonisingly close to Group success twice during the autumn however winning co-trainer Peter Morgan was confident the gelding had returned in better order this spring.

“Last spring I thought I had the best horse and we kept getting balloted out, we had nowhere to go,” Morgan said.

“It was a shame. When we came to autumn I didn’t quite have the same horse and he still ran good races against good horses but this spring I think I’ve got him back to how he was last spring.

“I don’t think he was quite fit and there will be a lot of improvement in him.”

Largely considered a workmanlike sort of customer, Star Rolling will need to continue displaying his fighting qualities as going deeper into the spring.

All signs point to Star Rolling having returned bigger and better though with the gelding returning a Timeform figure of 117 for his first up success.

The effort came in a pound below his current master Timeform rating of 118 returned when placing in a blanket finish to the 2014 Group 2 Peter Young Stakes (1800m) won by Fiorente.

It was also marginally below the previous five year winning average of the event.

Like his more fancied rivals contesting the P.B Lawrence Stakes, Star Rolling no doubt took benefit from the outing and will strip fitter for his next assignment which at this stage will be the Group 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley on September 6.

Looking at form out of the P.B Lawrence Stakes over the past decade, despite the usual quality of the victor, it is rare they have gone on with things heading into the main spring features.

While notable winners in the past decade include the likes of Puissance De Lune, Whobegotyou, Shoot Out, Light Fantastic and Apache Cat, the last horse to win a subsequent race during the spring was Pompeii Ruler in 2006 who claimed the Group 2 Craiglee Stakes three weeks later.

2005 P.B Lawrence winner Lad Of The Manor claimed the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes and after a failed Cox Plate bid, took out the Mackinnon Stakes.

Star Rolling appears to be on a similar path with connections of the opinion the 2400m of a Caulfield Cup will stretch their latest stable star.

Spillway’s second in the P.B Lawrence Stakes deserves mention as well with the effort assessed as being four pounds clear of his prior master Timeform figure of 113 yielded when third in the 2013 Group 3 Gordon Stakes (2414m) at Goodwood.

The David Hayes – Tom Dabernig partnership has hit the ground running having trained six winners and fourteen placegetters so far this season from 50 starters.

Two other stakes races were conducted at Caulfield on Saturday, the Group 3 Vain Stakes (1100m) and the Group 3 Quezette Stakes (1100m).

The Lloyd Kennewell-trained Get The Nod was an impressive winner of the Vain Stakes (1100m).

Kennewell post race declared Get The Nod the best horse he has trained and a Timeform figure of 109 at just his second career start justifies this.

A winner of both the 2012 Group 2 Adelaide Cup (3200m) and the 2013 Group 3 Tatt’s Cup (2200m) at Eagle Farm in 2013, Rialya had proven to be Kennewell’s standout galloper.

The stayer ran to a Timeform figure of 109 on both occasions which Get The Nod has achieved first up with plenty of room for improvement.

While the past couple of renewals have fallen flat in terms of being strong form references heading into the spring, renewals during the prior five years have hosted winners such as Starspangledbanner in 2009, Toorak Took [2010] and Sepoy [2011].

Each of these three winners tasted further Group success through the spring.

While the 2014 renewal of the Vain Stakes came in below the five year winning average, Get The Nod’s effort was still full of merit.

Sabatini claimed some valuable black type in the Quezette Stakes (1100m).

While the black type will prove invaluable for the Lee and Shannon Hope-trained filly, the performance yielded a Timeform figure of 100 which comes in nine pounds below the previous five year winning average.

It is a far cry from Quezette Stakes renewals at the start of the century which hosted the likes of So Gorgeous [2000], Innovation Girl [2002] and Alinghi [2004] who claimed multiple Group victories over the course of their respective three-year-old spring campaigns.