"It's a massive thrill, there's plenty of Bart [Cummings] in that horse I'll tell you," said the softly-spoken Thompson, a former Cummings protege, after Hooked landed a huge plunge at Randwick to win the Tramway Stakes when resuming on Saturday. "Have a look at him, he's got that Cummings glow. What more can I say?"

The normally subdued Thompson, one of the most respected horsemen in the caper, is usually one to show little emotion. But you can't underestimate what winning on the day dedicated to his former boss would have meant.

As Cummings' green and gold colours were resplendent on flags, painted grass and racebooks scattered around Randwick, the wily old master would have been smiling from above as bookmakers cowered at an old-fashioned ambush.

Opening as much as $18, Hooked was backed into $9 by the jump and only had to defy a challenge from Gai Waterhouse's resuming Ecuador, which ranged up on the inside menacingly inside the furlong.

"I thought he would run a cheeky race, I didn't think he'd win," Thompson said. "He's been working with the good mare [First Seal] and they have been working very well. He's come here and run out of his skin.

"He's up to that class, he is a group 2 horse all day, he just needs to take that next step now and we'll try and win a group 1 with him."

Hooked's jockey Tye Angland had no concern whisking the five-year-old to the front in a day dominated by on-pacers and had half-a-length to spare on the line. Rudy, which was camped in the three-wide line for the duration, was superb in third.

"I had a lap full of horse and at the top of the straight I tried to come out into little bit fresher going and better track," Angland said. "He really kicked well, he was getting a little bit tired late but ... it was a super effort."

And there promises to be more to come later in the spring as Thompson, who scratched early favourite First Seal from the Tramway, had a more than able deputy.

Ecuador's jockey Jason Collett said he was delighted with the return of his mount. "It was a great return. He just couldn't quite grab the leader," Collett said.

Kerrin McEvoy, who said he lost traction on Rudy on the muddied side of the course, was pleased with his Epsom-bound Queenslander. "It was a really good run," he said. "He sat midfield and just lost a little bit of momentum around that rough patch. His last 300 yards were really good."