Chosen To Fly had no favours but stamped himself a genuine contender for the major prize with his win in the fourth heat of the TROA / Luxbet Winter Championship (1400m) at Flemington on Saturday.

A wide draw consigned Chosen To Fly to racing three-wide for the entire trip but the son of Choisir showed tremendous fight to prevail in a blanket finish.

Chosen To Fly’s opposition had every chance to run down the winner over the concluding stages but were unable to stop the Colin and Cindy Alderson-trained galloper scoring his second heat win of the 2012 TROA / Luxbet Winter Championship series.

“He has got guts and tenacity,” Cindy Alderson said.

“He was challenged all the way up the straight and kept putting his head out.

“I think he does actually race off a wide gate because he can come across at his leisure. He is a big strong galloper and it suits him to just roll when the space is available.”

Chosen To Fly (Choisir) defeated Stoneblack (Danzero) by a long neck while Future Solution (Belong To Me) finished another neck away in third.  The field completed the 1400-metre trip in 1:25.98, which is more than five seconds outside the course record. The time included a last 600-metre sectional of 36.75 seconds on a slow track.

Chosen To Fly started as a $5.50 favourite on track but returned a dividend of $5.90 to his backers on the Victorian TAB.

Buyers passed in the four-year-old at the 2009 Magic Millions QTIS 600 Yearling Sale.

Chosen To Fly’s latest success was his eighth from 21 starts and the $42,700 winner’s cheque took his prizemoney to more than $320,000 for his owners, the Kilto Park Thoroughbred P/L Syndicate and Mrs M Bell.

Chosen To Fly will have a chance to improve his burgeoning bank balance when he runs in the Listed TROA / Luxbet Winter Championship Final (1600m) at Flemington on July 7, which carries $200,000 in prizemoney.