Jockey Ben Melham admitted to a few nervous moments before guiding Godolphin galloper Inhibitions to victory at Moonee Valley.
Sent out the $2.60 Unibet favourite, Melham had to pull out all stops on the Godolphin filly to land the Ladbroke It! Plate (1200m) on Saturday.
“It is hard to pick up out wide on the track, especially before the corner, and the leader (Oz Empress) gave a good kick and the one I was following didn’t take me into the race,” Melham said.
“There was a little bit of a nervous moment, but I knew I had plenty of horse under me and she put them away really well in the end.”
Inhibitions reeled in Oz Empress ($17) to score by a long-neck with Right To Party ($6.50) a further 3-¼ lengths away third.
Melham said Inhibitions had been well-placed in Saturday’s race by trainer James Cummings and the Godolphin team.
“She had a luckless run first-up in Sydney and then a trial to keep her up to the mark,” Melham said.
“There were good three-year-old races placed either side of this race today, so she was really well placed in this race.”
Sean Keogh, in charge of the Melbourne team for Cummings, said Inhibitions had done all her work in Sydney and only arrived in Melbourne during the week.
Keogh expects the filly to extend out in trip as her preparation progresses.
“The travel didn’t affect her, and it was great that she had that run under the belt and she looked tight enough to be competitive today,” Keogh said.
“She contested the Baillieu (1400m) behind Amur and in the Fernhill Stakes she was beaten by her stablemate on that occasion, Tom Kitten, who won 20 minutes ago (in Sydney).
“She contested her two-year-old year getting out in trip and she has kicked off her preparation this time over 1200 metres, so you can imagine she has the scope to step out over a bit further.”
