The gelding returned to Sydney – a place where he excels – on Saturday to take out the Highway Class 3 Handicap.

“He loves going down to Sydney. He loves the whole environment. He thrives on it a bit. He loves the track down there [Randwick] and even at Rosehill,” The Lion’s Michelle Fleming said.

Fleming added: “He likes those big, open tracks and the big, long stretches.”

The Lion has made three trips to Sydney and on all three occasions the five-year-old has been first past the post. One ended in disqualification when a prohibited substance in a sample taken from The Lion was found.

Fleming described that as an “honest mistake on my behalf” and Saturday’s win took some of the sting out of that result.

Rachel King – who picked up the ride after Chris O’Brien fell ill – peeled The Lion out around the bend and the gelding ran strongly to score by a length and a half.

Michelle Ritchie’s Can’t Find Snippy was second while Sue Grills kept the North West flavour going with the promising Burning Crown in third.

Fleming was chuffed with King’s great ride and thought The Lion could continue to progress through the grades.

“He’s a nice horse and I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet,” Fleming said.

“He’s pulled up really well after his run.

“He has a lot of ability.

“Rachel said she didn’t have to pull the whip on him because he was doing it quite comfortably.”