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Punters were right on the money when late shortener I’m A Conqueror made every post a winning one in the $20,000 Open Maiden Division 2 race over 1200m on Sunday.

Coming in for plenty of support to start as joint $18 favourite with another debutant, Ka Chance (Glen Boss), I'm A Conqueror went on to justify the trust with a fleet-footed display that saw him romp home by two lengths from Ocean Crossing (Ben Thompson) with Ka Chance third another 1 ½ lengths away.

David Hill’s assistant-trainer Jason Lim (pictured) said the level of confidence in the camp was relatively high given the positive signs the Alamosa four-year-old showed in his work.

“We went into the race quite confident. We know he is a good frontrunner, and with barrier one, all he had to do was lead and control the race,” said Lim.

“We spent some time with him as he was keen early, even in his trials (won one and ran third from two), but we’ve managed to settle him down in the end.

“We put the hood on in his trials and took them off today just to keep his head cool. He did very well, Saifudin (Ismail) didn’t have to whip him at all.

“It’s a horse I bought myself from New Zealand. The owners (Great Conqueror Stable) are new and it’s great they’ve got a winner with their first buy.”

Lim said the six furlongs were ideal for I’m A Conqueror first-up, but he predicted that the distance would stretch further eventually.

“As he’s a four-year-old, we had no other choice but to run him in a maiden race on debut,” said Lim.

“I think he can go further, probably up to 1400m.”

Saifudin agreed he did not have to contribute much during the 1min 10.96secs clocked for the 1200m on the Short Course, but that was not quite the case at his pre-debut preparation.

“He was very headstrong at his gallops. I could not hold him,” said the Malaysian veteran jockey.

“But he was a lot more settled in his barrier trials, and today in the paddock, he was very relaxed.

“He’s been working really good, both in his trials and gallops. I expected him to run well, especially from barrier one.

“He’s a fast horse and we knew he’d be hard to catch once he is in front.”

Itoldyouso (Yusoff Fadzli) did try to keep up in the first half of the race, sitting alongside, but was no match when Saifudin asked I’m A Conqueror to lengthen up.

Redoute’s Choice four-year-old Ka Chance had no excuses, and will surely improve from that first run under the belt. The Warwick Farm one-time placed runner sat in an ideal spot in third on the rails, boxing on to maintain that berth at the wire.