On Friday night, improving colt Hollowlea proved its spring potential winning the Group 2 Stutt Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley’s Manikato Stakes meeting, beating a quality field of rivals and coming back into contention for the 2010 Caulfield Guineas.

The Terry and Karina O’Sullivan-trained Hollowlea ($10) was ridden along the rails by Blake Shinn before bursting clear in the final 50m to defeat Run For Levi ($17) by one and a half lengths with $4.40 favourite Bullbars in third.

Hollowlea previously won the Listed Henry Bucks Best Dressed Stakes at Flemington before finishing sixth to Anacheeva in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude last start.

Friday’s win took the son of Hidden Dragon’s career record up to four wins from eight starts earning $233,975 in prize money.

Hollowlea will now target the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 9, Sportsbet shortening their quote on Hollowlea in the Guineas betting markets into $15.

In a bumper night of racing on Friday the other big events at Moonee Valley were the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) where hot favourite Hay List scored victory, the Group 3 JRA Cup (2040m) won by Bart Cummings’ Precedence, and the Group 3 Champagne Stakes (1200m) where Lone Rock claimed an upset victory.

The next major meeting of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival takes place at Randwick this Saturday headlined by the Group 1 Epsom Handicap, and for the hottest odds and best betting offers sign up with [sportsbet] today!

2010 Stutt Stakes Results