The Cran Dalgety-trained five-year-old was having his first run since splitting Monkey King and Smoken Up when second in last month's New Zealand Cup at Christchurch.

Monkey King and Smoken Up further franked the form from New Zealand's biggest race when they ran the quinella in the recent $500,000 Group 1 SEW-Eurodrive Miracle Mile.

Bettors Strike notched the 12th win of his 50-start career when he got the nod in what was a deceptive photo finish.

He and Ohoka Nevada raced alongside each other in front for most of the 2555-metre event and it was fitting that just a short half-head separated them.

A 64.5-second first half of the last mile meant their rivals were always going to struggle to run them down, and not even a 28.7-second third split prevented them from sizzling home the last 400m in 27.1 secs for a 2:02.9 mile rate.

In the photo, Bettors Strike held a slender margin over the Tony Peacock-trained Kilmore Cup winner Ohoka Nevada.