RIDING Spirit Ridge for his former boss Mark Newnham, Robbie Dolan landed the Listed January Cup at Randwick last Saturday, completing back-to-back wins on the British-bred six-year-old after victory in the Group 3 Summer Cup on St Stephen’s Day.

With a pair of stakes wins over Randwick’s 2,000 metre course Newnham is setting the bar high for the Nathaniel gelding with an entry for the Group 1 Sydney Cup in April pencilled onto his dance card.

“It’s a stronger race these days because it’s worth A$2 million and we’re getting more of these horses in it and he’s still improving,” said Newnham. “His level of improvement from the middle of last year until now has been great and I think he’s got more left in him. He was going away on the line.

“He’ll have a couple of weeks out. He’s a real European stayer who is clean winded and doesn’t take long to come up. He showed today that further than 2,000 metres isn’t going to be an issue,” added Newnham of the Juddmonte Farm-bred horse who began his racing career with Amanda Perrett.

Stalking the leaders, Dolan angled out three-wide on the bend from where Spirit Ridge relished the run to the line, easing away from his rivals to win by a length, consigning the Japanese-bred Wolfe, by Novellist, to second with the British-bred Marathon Man, by So You Think, a late closer in third.

“He really enjoys himself and that is a big asset for him. He loves his racing, he loves a day out, he pricks his ears everywhere you go and that is a good sign,” said Dolan.

“He has got a really good turn of foot for a horse that gets over a bit of ground and I would definitely be looking forward to seeing him get over further. I’ll ride him at whatever weight he gets. He is still untapped. Wait till he gets over a mile-and-a-half, then you will know he is around.”