El Chico was ridden by Lisa Allpress, who won the race the previous two years on the Pitman-trained Coup Align.
Pitman saddled Coup Bloomsbury to dead-heat for first with O'Cartier in the 2007 Stewards'.
El Chico tracked the leaders, burst through a gap inside the 200m and won by three and a-quarter lengths.
El Chico has won seven races since he was bought by Pitman and Otautau owners John and Evelyn Carran 16 months ago. He had then won five races from the Jan Hay stable.
Coup Align was a recent winner in Singapore, where he is now trained by Mark Walker.
• Jason Collett proved an able substitute for James McDonald in the saddle yesterday.
Collett did not originally have engagements for the second day of the New Zealand Cup meeting.
"My manager got a call on Tuesday morning to say that James was injured and would I be prepared to make the trip," Collett said.
He rode Mygoodgrace to win the Canterbury Breeders' Stakes and Lucky Break to win a maiden yesterday.
Collett (20) has proved himself in Sydney, amassing 30 wins on various visits.
"I will continue to take the opportunities there when I can fit them in," he said.
Mygoodgrace, trained at Ruakaka by Donna and Dean Logan, flew south on Sunday for the one race at the meeting.
"The hard part is getting home. It will be a road trip," Logan said.
The mare is raced by breeder Mark Treloar in a lease agreement with the Rising Star syndicate, Sam Logan (daughter of the trainer), Anna Campbell, Diane McDonald and Garry Cossey.
McDonald, who had a groin injury, has indicated he will be fit to ride Anabandana in the One Thousand Guineas on Saturday.
• Mi Payday may have her third race in eight days at Riccarton on Saturday. She won a rating 90 1000m convincingly yesterday after finishing third fresh up in the Pegasus Handicap last Saturday.
"She might start on the last day. I will see how she comes through her race today," Stephen Crutchley, her Wanganui trainer, said.
