Not a Derby for the ages by any means, but Mark Newnham-trained Invincible Ibis was the last man standing after a serious test in Sunday's $HK 26 million HK Derby.
Thanks to the efforts of Numbers in the lead, there was nowhere to hide in the Derby and Hugh Bowman's perfect ride gave Invincible Ibis every chance to show what he could do.
All season, we have said the Derby contenders performed in a particular narrow zone between 88 and 91 on our rating scale and Invincible Ibis did manage to break through the ceiling with a 92 rating.
It was a cleanly-run race, mostly thanks to runner-up Numbers, who hurtled throughout one of the middle sections almost five lengths faster than average. His performance rated "only" 88 but deserves plenty of added credit for how his pace was managed.
That strong tempo set up the race record time, and certainly ensured any stamina deficiences in the field were laid bare, but the idea that any runner was really powering through the line was an illusion. The fast-finisher in the race was Stormy Grove but his last 400m section still ranked only 44th of 128 runners across the card.
We still think it has been a fairly even Derby crop this season - amongst those who made it to the race anyway - but the grand final did lean to confirming the cream of that crop, with the first four across the line exactly the same horses as the first four across the line in the designated 1800m Classic Cup lead-up, just in a different order.
We certainly wouldn't discount the idea that they could meet once more and finish in a different order yet again but Newnham, Bowman and the Ibis Syndicate of owners got the spoils on the day that mattered most.