Theseo trounced his rivals in the St George Stakes (1800m) this afternoon at Caulfield to announce himself as the one to beat in the Australian Cup on March 7.

After the omission of Maldivian from acceptances on Thursday morning, Theseo was left as the race favourite with punters expecting the Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) winner to dictate terms to suit himself upfront.

And punters were correct, as Theseo showed his customary gate speed to cross the field easily from barrier five and set an even tempo throughout.

When Nash Rawiler released the handbrakes at the top of the straight, Theseo dashed clear of the chasing pack headed by Baughurst and Master O'Reilly.

But in the run to the line, Theseo ($2-$2.30-$2.25) defeated the well supported Baughurst ($7-$8-$6.50) by three and three quarter lengths with Zarita ($5-$6.50-$6) a further three quarters of a length away in third.

Master O'Reilly ($10-$15) fought on gamely to hold down fourth.

Zarita, who appeared the first horse beaten at the 600m mark when the pace quickened, found a second wind to make some ground on the line into third.

In a staggering race, no horse in the field was able to improve their position more then two places from the 800m mark onwards apart from Zarita who dropped through the field momentarily.

Stable representative for Gai Waterhouse, Steve O'Halloran, suggested the omission of Maldivian allowed his horse to dictate terms upfront.

"I think his class told today. Nash gave him a great ride and controlled in the lead."

"I thought he was holding on a bit too much but he quickened up when he let him go and got to the line really good."

"There was no speed in the race obviously so we were going to go forward from the word go."

"But he's pretty adaptable. He can race in behind or he can make the running as he did today," O'Halloran said.

Asked whether there is further improvement in Theseo, O'Halloran sent out a chilling thought to connections of the beaten brigade.

"It's only his second start so he'll improve fitness wise after this run."

"His main aim is obviously the Australian Cup here in Melbourne and when he goes back to Sydney he'll probably contest the BMW and races like that."

Jockey Nash Rawiler also paid credit to Theseo who is now a dominate $3.30 favourite with Betstar for the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington on March 7.

"I thought we were going at a nice even weight-for-age tempo and he was able to quicken off it."

"I said last spring that he's only got to improve half a length and he's going to be one of our top weight-for-age horses."

"I wouldn't want to swap going into the Australian Cup that's for sure," Rawiler added.

Theseo, a $120,000 purchase from the 2005 Magic Millions Yearling Sale at the Gold Coast, is another success story for Denise Martin and her Star Thoroughbreds operation.

At the time, it was Martin's most expensive purchase but history will show it was well worth it with Theseo accruing $1.7 million over his 26 start to date - what might still be to come is anyone's guess!

The victory continued the good fortune for the Waterhouse-Nash Rawiler combination after they combined to win the BMW Angus Armanasco Stakes (1600m) with Gold Water earlier in the day.