The Ken Rae and Krystal Williams-Tuhoro-trained veteran won the 2030m feature for in-form jockey Terry Moseley.
Some in the Kaharau camp had raised question marks over his racing future when he produced two fair runs after returning from a spell.
However, Rae knew his wily veteran had plenty more to offer.
The 7yr-old just needed a little persuasion.
"The way he trialled up in the North Island, I knew he had come back well," Rae said.
"An old horse like that can’t lead in 1200m and 1400m trials if he doesn’t want to be there.
"After his last start, Sam Collett said he was travelling like the winner the whole way but he didn’t finish it off. So she said put the blinkers on him."
Blinkers were applied to the horse’s gear for yesterday’s race and Collett’s advice paid off immediately.
Though Kaharau was not at his best during a Queensland winter campaign, he performed admirably when taking on classy gallopers like Egg Tart.
"How many of those horses he beat would be able to go over there and go in races like that?" Rae said.
"To be fair, though, it was the wrong time for him. He was at the end of a long campaign."
Though Kaharau is officially a Ruakaka galloper, he has spent so much time in Canterbury that Rae thinks he should be considered a Cantabrian.
"Every year after cup week he stays down there. He is a Canterbury horse, really.
"He will stay down there now and he can go in the Dunedin Gold Cup and races like that."
Kaharau won the 2016 edition of the Dunedin Gold Cup at Wingatui on Champions Day.
The horse could line up at Wingatui on Boxing Day, where he would join his classy stablemate Prom Queen. Rae said the speedy mare would contest the open 1200m sprint rather than staying north and racing at Ellerslie.
Yesterday’s open 1400m sprint was won by rising South Island star Kiwi Ida.
A pinpoint ride from apprentice Rahul Beeharry helped the John and Karen Parsons-trained mare score the third win of her spring campaign.
The 4yr-old was clearly last just after the start after being restrained out of the gates by Beeharry. Punters who placed big bets on her would have had some nervous moments when she was last on the rail approaching the 600m.
However, Beeharry showed he had the situation in control when he picked a perfect path through the field to produce Kiwi Ida for a big late finish.
The pair timed their run perfectly, just getting their nose in front of runner-up He’s Gold at the post.
