As a former champion apprentice jockey, Nick Ryan was a regular winner in town.
On Saturday at Flemington, Ryan brought up his first city winner as a trainer and couldn’t hide his delight.
Up-and-coming three-year-old Mahamedeis overhauled his rivals in in the Patrobas Handicap (2000m) to bring up the milestone for Ryan.
“I’m pretty pumped,” Ryan said.
“To do it here at headquarters is pretty special. He’s a nice, progressive horse.”
Ryan, who trains at Caulfield, said it was “pretty massive” to notch his first city win.
“It’s been a hard transition, challenging, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and hopefully I can keep going,” he said.
Mahamedeis has not been out of the top-two placings in his five career starts.
He won a maiden at Sale at his second start and had been runner-up at Bendigo and Caulfield in his two most recent starts before winning at Flemington.
Jockey Ryan Maloney was also thrilled to share in the moment.
The colt, who started $5, defeated Almighty Crown ($11) with Civil Disobedience ($2.20) third.
“Nick and I have been friends for a long time,” Maloney said.
“We were apprentices together. We actually were roommates for a while and it’s just great because it was his first city winner and he’s done a really good job with this horse.”
During his highly successful apprenticeship, Ryan won the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership in 2004-05, the most recent apprentice to have achieved that feat.
