Former top Brisbane jockey Ryan Maloney is off the mark in Sydney, combining with Annabel Neasham to guide Secaution to a midweek victory at Warwick Farm.
Having dipped his toe in the water during the autumn when he won the Group 1 Surround Stakes aboard the Neasham-trained Sunshine In Paris, Maloney decided to relocate to Sydney just before the start of the new season, hoping to capitalise on the departure of the likes Hugh Bowman and Brenton Avdulla to Hong Kong.
He was thrilled to get his first win on the board since then on Wednesday, and especially to do it for Neasham.
“She has shown me really good support since coming down, and up in Queensland as well,” Maloney said.
“It’s good to get the monkey off the back and she (Secaution) was a deserved winner.
“She franked her form from the trials and I came here today quite confident.”
Maloney brought Secaution with a well-timed run to win the Microphone @ Darley Handicap (1000m) by a nose over Xtravagant Star, the 2022 Inglis Millennium winner showing some positive signs at her first run for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
Earlier in the day, Tulloch Lodge colt Les Vampires atoned for his costly defeat on debut, turning in a much more polished display to post a stylish maiden win.
The three-year-old started a $1.55 favourite when third at Canterbury last month but was his own worst enemy as he hung out around the home turn and raced greenly in the straight.
There was no sign of that behaviour on Wednesday with Les Vampires ($3.70) making the running and kicking strongly in the straight to defeat Encap ($4.20) by 1-1/4 lengths with Suspect ($9.50) another three-quarters of a length away third.
Co-trainer Adrian Bott was relieved to see Les Vampires turn his manners around.
“It was a much more professional performance today,” Bott said.
“Canterbury can be a little bit tricky for those inexperienced horses and it just found him out there as favourite the other day.
“It’s good to see him bounce back because he’s got a lot of talent. He’s just doing it quite naturally, he’s pretty raw so I think there’s a lot of upside there.”