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Sunday’s Kingmakers Syndication (2200m) at Ellerslie was Ata Rangi’s first raceday appearance in 204 days, but the versatile nine-year-old brought his A-game to Auckland and resumed on a winning note.

The Haradasun gelding headed into Sunday's $25,000 open handicap as a six-race winner from 63 starts. His wins had come over distances ranging from 1400m up to 3000m, on the flat and over hurdles, and on a range of track conditions.

Having been off the scene since a seventh in a 2100m open handicap at Tauranga in early November, Ata Rangi was the outsider of Sunday's five-horse field at $11.60.

He sat in fourth place most of the way around the Ellerslie track as Khan Hunter set the pace, then dropped back to a clear last when the back-marker Outback Opal made ground along the inside coming up to the home turn.

Seemingly detached as the other four horses lined up across the home straight to fight out the finish, Ata Rangi was angled to the outside by apprentice jockey Hayley Hassman and began to warm into his work.

He lengthened stride and raced past all four of his opponents inside the final 100m of the race, getting up to beat Khan Hunter by a long neck.

Raced by his trainer John Bell, Ata Rangi  has now had 64 starts for seven wins, 19 placings and $178,691 in stakes.

"That was very thrilling," Bell said. "We knew he was fit, albeit not match fit, but he's a great old campaigner.

"He's gone over jumps and on the flat, he's sprinted and stayed, he's gone on all sorts of ground. It's a credit to the team at home as well. I couldn't be more proud of them.

"He'll probably go jumping again at some stage this winter, but we'll give him a couple more flat runs first and see how we go."

Bell also had plenty of praise for 19-year-old Hassman.

"I showed her a video of Gerald Mosse and the other French jockeys, who push from the saddle to the ears – push, push, push. She did that when she won a race at Te Rapa yesterday, and she did it again today. She's riding very well. She's doing such a good job and she listens."

Ata Rangi delivered a first win at Ellerslie for Hassman, who has now ridden a total of nine winners in her short career. She rode a double this weekend, having guided Sense Of Timing to victory at Te Rapa on Saturday for her employers, Te Akau Racing's Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson.

"He (Ata Rangi) is amazing," Hassman enthused. "John has done such a good job with him to win fresh up today over a distance. He travelled amazingly throughout the race. I was a little bit worried coming up to the turn, thinking, 'Wait for me guys,' but then he straightened up and found the line really strongly.