He didn't let any of his supporters down, burning off three of his rivals down the back straight before holding off some determined competition in the last 200m.

The five-year-old was pushed by Amanda Turnbull onboard Written In Red ($5.40), but ultimately his form was too good, and he eased home to a four metre victory, the 18th of his 50-start career, one which has yielded nearly $135,000 in earnings.

"He went well last week when he ran second and tonight he was just as good even allowing for a shorter trip," Hurst said afterwards.

"I have been wanting to get him down to Sydney for a start at Menangle and was going to do it this week, but when a race like this comes up I had to take the opportunity.

"Instead it will probably be Saturday week if I can find the right race for him.

"He really likes to open up around the bends, so I opened him up a bit on a few of them and put some really quick sectionals in. He felt very good all the way around the track."

Starting from gate seven, Hurst was always likely to try to go forward in the small field, and he managed to get the better of Written In Red for front spot.

After an eight-second lead time, he was sedate with opening quarters of 29.6 and 30.4 seconds, allowing the field to settle close behind.

It fell to Armbro Chimes ($8.70) to try to put some pressure on, but it was a token gesture as he sat off the leader's shoulder.

When Hurst stepped on the gas, his gelding responded with a 27.6s third sectional to get rid of Skippy Sadler ($112.60) and Cankickatarget ($39.50), and as they entered the straight Armbro Chimes fell away as well.

Written In Red tried to mount an attack via the sprint lane having sat behind the leader the whole way, while Crackerjack Jo ($6.70) came from one-out and one-back to give a good account of herself but nether could drag back the leader.

Written In Red beat home Crackerjack Jo by a head to claim third.

The final quarter was a 28.3s split, for a healthy mile-rate of 1:55.3.

The performance of the Steve Turnbull gelding would have been an encouraging one for his connections as well, given that he has now run a couple of seconds in three starts coming off a nine month spell, and The Lagoon trainer did manage to secure victories in four other races on the program.

For Hurst the outcome was perfect given that Saloon Passage himself has also only recently returned to the track.

Since resuming from three months in the paddock, he now boasts two wins and a second in his three starts.