Luke Pepper has celebrated his greatest moment as a trainer with country filly Opal Ridge snaring the inaugural running of the $500,000 Tapp-Craig at Randwick.

The last event to be held on Saturday before the meeting was postponed by stewards due to safety concerns over the track, the 1400m race was run in atrocious conditions with jockeys trying to steer away from the chopped-up ground near the fence.

From an inside draw, Tyler Schiller had little option but to sool Opal Ridge ($2.40 fav) through closer to the rails around the home turn before popping out in the straight and the Scone three-year-old speared clear to defeat Pericles ($7.50) by 2-1/2 lengths.

Dashing Legend ($8) was another 5-1/2 lengths away third.

It was the filly’s sixth run of the campaign and Pepper had been looking to give her a break after her last-start second in the Listed Heritage Stakes, but she did so he well tossed in an entry for the Tapp-Craig.

“After her last run I was looking for any excuse to put her in the paddock,” Pepper said.

“But she was jumping out of her skin. I galloped her and she flew so we threw a late nom in for this race.

“It’s big prizemoney and we pulled it off.”

Her victory was also some consolation for being overlooked for a slot in next weekend’s Kosciuszko and Pepper had no doubt a few slow holders would have been kicking themselves for passing her up.

“I suppose there would be a few slot holders sitting at home now and wishing they’d had her, but it is what it is,” he said.

“We were happy with what we presented to the ticket holders, we stuck to our plan and it’s come off today.”

Pepper confirmed he would send Opal Ridge for a well-deserved spell before aiming her towards some races in the autumn.

The feedback from some of the beaten jockeys told the tale of the track with Nash Rawiller, who eased down Hawaii Five Oh before the finishing line, saying his mount struggled to stay on its feet.

“He was good in the run, but off the bridle he nearly fell over,” Rawiller said.