Always A Gentleman battled his way to a second consecutive win in the country in the RM100,000 Wilayah Silver Bowl (1200m) at Sungai Besi today, proving that class is permanent and form is only temporary.

Winner of two races in Brazil including the Group 1 Francisco Eduardo e Linneo Eduardo de Paula Machado and third in the Jockey Club Brasilveiro (Brazilian Derby), the son of the USA stallion Put It Back was purchased and brought into Hong Kong with the Derby in mind.

But the Brazilian gelding failed to acclimatize there, finishing unplaced in two runs before he was sold and headed for Malaysia.

Always A Gentleman showed glimpses of his ability, finishing on board in four of his initital six runs in the country. His worst result came in the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor (2000m) last December when he tracked the pacemaker but faded to finish 11th to Kim Emperor.

After that run, trainer Lawson Moy decided to concentrate on sprint races for his charge and last month, Always A Gentleman broke through with a narrow victory over 1300m.

Bouyed by the result, Moy set him for the Wilyah Silver Bowl, a race for five-year-olds, and it brought another win and another trophy for the Brazilian gelding.

Apprentice Fikri Ismail, who rode the gelding in his last two starts, was given the task again and handled the job brilliantly.

Stop The Water, as usual, went to the front immediately after the start with Always A Gentleman eyeing him on his outside. Rumeur was a handy third in field of nine runners.

Stop The Water broke away to a clear lead at the 600m with Banker’s Pretty moving up to second and Always A Gentleman third on the rails.

Coming to the 200m, Stop The Water was still nicely of Always A Gentleman racing on the rails on the same line as the leader. Banker’s Pretty was racing wide out after being switch out at the top of the straight.

With just 80m to go, Always A Gentleman and Banker’s Pretty both started to pounce on Stop The Water, rapidly closing the gap.

And in a three-way finish, Always A Gentleman got up to win by a neck from Banker’s Pretty with a similiar margin to Stop The Water.

“It’s good to see him pick up consecutive wins with some progressive horses in the mix,” said Moy who is on Chinee New Year holiday.

“Nice ride from Fikri.”

“My instructions were to jump well and get cover which I did,” said Fikri.

“He (Always A Gentleman) travelled well throughout. I asked him to pick up speed from the 500m and he responded. After I switched out in the last 100m and got a clear run, he gave me more and more. Very happy with the win.”