Serpent produced a royal result at Trentham for Goodwood Stud when he triumphed in the Listed Lincoln Lodge New Zealand St Leger to credit his sire Chinese Dragon with his maiden black type success.

The three-year-old is from the first crop of the Palmerston North-based stallion son of Stravinsky who was a Group Two winner in the United States where he was also placed at the highest level.

“He hasn’t had many to the races and his strike rate isn’t too bad at all so hopefully there’s going to be many more to come,” Goodwood Stud’s William Fell said. “We bred and sold this horse so it’s a great result for us.”

A NZ$25,000 Select Sale yearling at Karaka for Scott Richardson Bloodstock, Serpent was making his sixth raceday appearance at Trentham and lead-up wins at Pukekohe Park and Ellerslie encouraged trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman to target the St Leger.

“He’s always showed that the further he goes the better he’ll be,” Forsman said. “Three-year-olds are well off in this race. Harris Tweed was fourth in it and then ran second in the AJC Derby so there’s options open.”

Serpent was ridden by Vinnie Colgan who allowed the chestnut to roll to the front and was largely left alone at an easy pace.

“I wanted to be positive early and they handed it to me and I got away with cheap sections,” he said. “With 54kg I thought he’d be hard to catch in the straight. Next year in the open handicaps I think he’s going to be pretty special.”

Serpent rallied strongly in the run home to claim major honours at the expense of Juggernaut Rock and Star of Tralee.