International jockey William Buick has made his mark with his first ride at this year's Melbourne spring carnival at Flemington.
One of Godolphin's European jockeys, Buick steered the locally trained Godolphin filly Pohutukawa to a last-to-first victory in Tuesday's Listed Jim Beam Black Stakes for three-year-old fillies on the undercard to the Melbourne Cup.
Buick is in town to ride at the final three days of the Melbourne Cup carnival, with his rides this week including the Charlie Appleby-trained Godolphin stablemates Blair House and Jungle Cat in Group One races on Saturday.
Buick snagged the James Cummings-trained Pohutukawa back to last from a wide draw in the 1400m race before peeling her to the outside from the top of the home straight.
Pohutukawa ($10) sailed home down the middle of the track in the soft conditions to beat Madam Rouge by 1-1/4-lengths with a long neck to Into The Abyss third.
“She's a nice filly. She won well,” Buick said.
“James told me to take her back and ride her with a bit of confidence.
“He was very confident about the filly.
“She came into it lovely and was in a nice rhythm. It's quite testing out there so you can't burn up too much petrol early.”
Cummings, who registered his fourth win for the carnival after a treble on Victoria Derby day last Saturday, believes Pohutukawa is a filly on the up after taking her record to three wins from five starts.
“William had to be patient from the barrier and not risk being wide,” Cummings said.
“She was chiming in with big strides like a really nice filly and I think she's got a really nice future.”
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