Trainer Gavin Bedggood was not surprised to see the turnaround in form from his mare No Effort at Caulfield on Saturday.

Bedggood said there had been genuine excuses for No Effort’s failures at her two starts prior to landing the prize in the Neds Punters Toolbox Handicap (2000m).

No Effort was a winter find 12 months ago, winning twice at Caulfield and also at Sandown, rising from a benchmark 78 grade winner to score at Listed level in the Heatherlie Handicap (1700m) last August.

Taken to the front by Lachie King, No Effort ($10) held off a late bid by Don’t Doubt Dory ($4) to win by a half-neck with Port Guillaume ($21) a further 1-½ lengths away third.

“I felt like I’ve defended this mare for her last couple of runs because she’s obviously run below par, but she’s had legitimate excuses,” Bedggood said.

“She had mucus detected on her scope two back, she burst her barrier open before the jump last start and missed the start by three lengths and ended up last in a slowly run race which gave her no hope.

“Daniel Schmidt who rides her gallops, galloped her Tuesday morning and said, ‘you can’t have her going any better and if she doesn’t do something on Saturday, we’ve got to reassess things’.

“We knew she was ready to go today and if she didn’t run accordingly, she was probably looking for the breeding barn.”

Bedggood praised the ride of King who was able to take up the lead on the mare in her favoured roll.

He said the key with No Effort was to get cheap mid-race sections before increasing the tempo.

“11 out of 10. He got it to a T. I don’t know why he doesn’t get more rides, Bedggood said.

“He was Melbourne’s leading apprentice last year and since he’s come out of his time, I took a punt putting him on.

“He’s had two rides on her for a narrow defeat here and a win on her and both times he rode her he got it perfect, so I was happy to give him another ride today.”