LORD Denzel was only in the lead for less than a metre of Wednesday's Memberships Are Due Pace (1,730 metres) but it was the right part of the event to be in front for.
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The Bernie Hewitt-trained and Doug Hewitt-driven Lord Denzel ($17) stunned the more fancied Kid You Not ($2 favourite) with a well-timed sprint down the leader's outside to win by a nose in a photo finish.
Kid You Not still looked like the winner even 20 metres out from the line before Lord Denzel found an extra kick to earn his third win of the season.
Doug Hewitt has been proud of the juvenile's efforts towards the end of this season.
"You sometimes don't really know how much he's got left but he's a nice little horse who tries all the time," he said.
"The draw didn't help tonight and I'm sure if that was different then he probably would have been in the market a bit more.
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"He's a horse who's been honest for us lately and he went across to Dubbo on the weekend and finished second with another hard run and tonight he sat on the outside and showed how versatile he is.
"He's only a three-year-old. He's still filling out and he's matured a lot."
The stage was set for a duel from the first strides of the race.
Kid You Not hardly had to break a sweat holding onto the lead from gate one while Lord Denzel came across from gate six to sit in the death.
Mark Hewitt's well-backed Ace Reporter ($2.60) was positioned well behind the Hewitt runner and Nathan Hurst comfortably steered Tulhurst Writer ($26) to sit on the leader's tail.
With comfortable, back-to-back quarters of 30.8 there was little to no excuses for Kid You Not in the run towards the line.
The Wendy Turnbull-trained runner looked the goods on the final turn as she gained a small break on the field.
Lord Denzel had dropped back over the final lap to sit alongside Tulhurst Writer but Hewitt brought his gelding forward to challenge the leader.
In the closing strides Lord Denzel got the nod, adding to two wins on his home track over the past year.
Ace Reporter pipped Tulhurst Writer by a nose in the race for third.
The winning mile rate was 1:59.2.
Lord Denzel's victory was the first of a number of upsets in Wednesday night's meeting.
Sophie Brown and Carinya Gold also saluted as double-figure winners while the biggest upset of the night belonged to $51 shot Shannonstheman in the Hynash Constructions Pace (1,730m).
Hewitt found a second winner later in the night with Rock Fisherman and Amy Rees also bagged a driving double.