The first-crop offspring by Elvstroem have been impressing mank good trainers with their prowess and the five-time Group 1 winner showed he can get horses with more precocity than himself following the victory of Viking Legend at Moonee Valley on Saturday. Away sharply and ridden across the field to lead, Viking Legend then had the class and courage to quicken up into the straight and open a winning advantage

The Gai Waterhouse-trained coltshowed he would be a force in the $250,000 Inglis Premier (1200m) at Caulfield in two weeks when he refused to be beaten in the IGA Local Heroes Plate (1200m).

Briefed by his brother Nash on how best to handle Viking Legend, Brad Rawiller rode the colt for speed from his outside gate to lead and he lasted by a short head to beat Dominguin with Tribulus a neck back third.

"He is very professional and did it the hard way," said Steve O'Halloran, the travelling foreman for Waterhouse. "He showed a bit of ticker. He jumped out, went forward, controlled the race and fought on well to the line.

"It was a good stepping-stone to the Inglis race."

From the Moonee Valley winner Innocent Baby, Viking Legend cost $165,000 from the Blue Gum Farm draft at the 2008 Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale. The excitement surrounding Viking Legend's win is accentuated by the fact that there is a particularly racey brother catalogued as lot 437 to sell at Oklands Junction on March 3.

Nash Rawiller rode Viking Legend at his only other race start when he got involved in a bumping duel and finished second to top Blue Diamond chance Real Saga at Randwick.

Brad Rawiller said Nash told him to be aggressive on Viking Legend. "He took a while to get speed up ... but when he got to the front he came back underneath me pretty good," Rawiller said. "He is very tough. At the 100 metres he was going to get beaten but he showed a fair bit of grit."

Images of the Blue Gum Farm yearlings can be seen online under our own sales page or by going to inglis.com.au.