Ealing Park graduate Crafty Cruiser is one of the toughest horses in training and he lived up to the rating once again in the Banjo Paterson Series (2520m) on Saturday.

Crafty Cruiser (6g Good Journey – Sly One by O’Reilly) was caught three-wide facing the breeze but knuckled down to defeat King Of Dudes and Zuma Roc in a three-way finish at Flemington.  “I didn’t ride him that good but I just tried to keep him balanced,” winning apprentice Jye McNeil said.  “It was just a very tough effort from the horse.”

Trained at Torquay by Bryce Stanaway, Crafty Cruiser cost just $1,500 from Euroa based Ealing Park at the 2009 Inglis March Sale at Oaklands.  His dam Sly One is a NZ bred daughter of Mrs Selleck (Famous Star) who was a Group 1 winner of the Lion Brown Sprint.

Crafty Cruiser has won 7races and been placed 21 times in 65 starts.  “He’s a little bit more than honest and has been unlucky a few times,” Stanaway said.  “He could’ve had another five or six wins to his name very easily.”

A Listed victory in the R M Ansett Stakes at Mornington has been his biggest pay-day among earnings of $484,000.

Crafty Cruiser also brought up a city double for Ealing Park owner Tim Johnson.  The Euroa-based studmaster bred Thiamandi (Street Boss) to win earlier in the day at Morphettville.