Act Up has secured a significant two-state juvenile double for Lindsay Park, overcoming fellow Victorian-trained colt Silent Intent to claim the $1 million Golden Gift at Rosehill.

This feature race triumph not only guarantees Act Up a spot in next year’s Golden Slipper field with its substantial prizemoney but also capped off a lucrative afternoon for trainers Ben, Will, and J D Hayes. Earlier, they had celebrated victory in the $400,000 Inglis Banner (1000m) at Flemington with Soldi.

Having finished fourth to Soldi in the Debutant Stakes (1000m) last month, Act Up’s form was underlined when the filly proved superior in Melbourne, a performance that boosted the stable’s confidence. “To frank the form line was always good. She was too fast for them down there, and it certainly gave us a bit of confidence saddling up today,” Will Hayes commented. “We were really keen to see him over 1100 metres, and we needed every meterage today.”

Despite drawing wide in barrier 16, Act Up ($8) was afforded time by jockey Nash Rawiller to settle before threading a path through the field in the straight. He emerged on the outside to edge out Tim Clark’s mount Silent Intent ($5.50) by a long neck. First-starter Torshavn ($11) finished a distant third, another four lengths adrift.

“I knew I was going to be hard to beat at the 350 metre mark,” Rawiller stated. “He quickened well and came up behind them. Timmy’s (jockey Tim Clark’s) horse showed a fair bit of fight. I thought we had to dig pretty deep over the last 100 metres to go win the race. I think they are two nice horses going forward. There were a lot of inexperienced ones out there but the real clever ones, they just out their hands.”

Will Hayes indicated that the stable would assess Act Up’s recovery before deciding on his immediate future, weighing up an autumn campaign against a spell. “We’ll see how he pulls up. There are lots of options, but he’s got $1 million in the bank now, so the autumn will certainly have a few big races on the agenda,” he said. “It was a terrific ride by Nash to go back and through. We were beaten for early speed, we were just hoping for an over-correction, which is what we got. Full credit to the horse, he handled the occasion. And full credit to the team. Our two-year-olds are on fire.”

Betting on the Golden Gift is now open with the leading Australian betting sites.