Tom Melbourne finally did it! In his long awaited return to the winner's list after a seemingly endless string of placings, he was actually quite impressive in scoring a decisive first-up victory here, his first win since taking out the Albury Cup (Listed, 2000m) 1043 days ago in March 2016. He travelled well for Blake Shinn back in sixth place, tracking a solid pace (first 800m 46.59), moved up well nearing the home turn, took the lead at the 200m and then drew away for score easily by two and halflengths, in the quick time of 1:21.17. Flow was deep in the early stages before crossing to the lead. He then set a good tempo, was overtaken at the 200m and held on to take second just in front of Tangled who was a handy fourth to the home turn before battling on nicely for third in a sound first-up effort over this trip, short of his best. Penske was a bit slow to move and worked a bit before racing outside the leader (Flow). He then battled on quite well for (4 lengths) fourth. The favourite Endless Drama missed the start badly, was a clear last early, improved at the home turn and kept making ground for (4.4 lengths) fifth, staging a good effort after his early mishap.