After his very near miss in the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor (2000m) last December, Banker’s Two Six was finally able to reward his connections with a runaway win in the RM100,000 Chinese New Year Prosperity Trophy (1600m) at Sungai Besi today.

Coming into the country as a maiden, the Toronado galloper has been punching above his weights in just six starts.

The five-year-old won his second start over 1600m in Class 4 and two runs later, just failed to catch Kim Emperor by a neck in a thrilling finish to the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor.

Back in Class 4, Banker’s Two Six ran his rivals off their feet over 1600m last month, romping home by 8-1/4 lengths.

Banker’s Two Six started third favourite behind Platinum Emperor and Good Star in the Chinese New Year Prosperity Trophy today but he was not intimidated by their reputation.

Stablemate Banker’s Empress was the first to break and led from Irish Goodbye and Platinum Emperor early but Banker’s Two Six, ridden by apprentice Farhan Ghazali, swept past them to take the lead on settling down.

Banker’s Two Six streaked away to a clear lead from Irish Goodbye with Platinum Emperor and Banker’s Empress next.

Banker’s Two Six went further and further ahead making into the straight and was five lengths clear at the 400m. The others tried but never came near leader who went to the line 4-3/4 lengths ahead of the rest.

Big Hearted came with a late burst to beat the top-weight Platinum Emperor, who laboured under 59.5kg on a track rated as “yielding”, for second placing.

Banker’s Two Six did not race at two and had a third and two fourth-place finishes in six runs at three. He managed another three fourths in nine starts at four but you would never know that the way he nearly won the Piala Emas and accounted for his rivals today.

“He should have won the Piala Emas,” declared trainer Johnny Lim.

“Still, this race is a good consolation.

“After his Piala Emas run, I knew he was good enough to win a Cup race some day.

“I will now set him for the Perak Derby (2000m) next month.”

“My instructions were to set the pace but he (Banker’s Two Six) was a little slow off the mark and it took us some time to get to the front,” said Farhan.

“This is my third attempt at the Cup race and finally I have a trophy to show.”