Luke McCarthy’s boom colt For A Reason might have suffered his first defeat of the season, but Lanercost and Major Bronski exerted their class in their respective $20,000 qualifiers at Melton’s Tabcorp Park on Friday night.

Lanercost set the tone when he led all the way to win the opening 2240-metre heat as a $1.40 favourite.

At his first Victorian start since finishing second to Smiling Shard in the Breeders Crown final, the Darrel Graham-trained-and-driven son of Courage Under Fire cruised home by almost three metres from locals Heza Panamach and Renaissance Man.

His mile rate of 1:59.2 – which included a blistering 26.5-second final 400 metres – was 0.9 seconds slower than what Major Bronski went in heat two.

The tough colt didn’t have the luxury of the inside barrier like Lanercost, but it mattered little as he sat outside $1.30 favourite For A Reason but still proved too strong to post his ninth win in a row.

The son of Art Major looked in trouble on the turn, but rallied strongly in the latter stages of a 26.8-second final quarter to win pulling away from For A Reason with Dream Catch Me a distant third.

Queensland didn’t have a runner in the final heat, but it provided no more joy for the home state with Kiwi raider Lincoln Royal justifying the wraps with a dominant 7.5-metre win over New South Wales gelding Chariot King.

Master Joy, a half-brother to last year’s Victoria Derby champion Captain Joy, was 3.4m away in third spot. The 1:58.3 mile rate was identical to Major Bronski’s winning time.

Major Bronski’s trainer Stuart Hunter was thrilled with the effort of his charge, but wasn’t taking anything for granted ahead of next Saturday night’s $200,000 Group 1 final at Moonee Valley.

“It was a good night for Queensland, but the New Zealander (Lincoln Royal) went pretty well too,” Hunter said. “It’s one of the strongest Derbys there’s been for a while and the final’s going to be a great race.

“We travelled down by road and because of that my bloke had a pretty easy week, so I expect him to improve a bit next week, but maybe a few of the others will improve too because they also had to travel.”

Another Kiwi, Courage To Rule, and Victorians Wartime Sweetheart and Remember El were the respective fourth placegetters, thus securing their place in the 2575-metre final.