With race experience on his side, two-year-old Jabali Ridge has shown his professionalism to land a convincing win in his second start at Flemington.
One of only two juveniles among the eight runners in Saturday’s The Arbour Plate (1000m) to have raced before, Jabali Ridge sat on the pace in the straight-track sprint before the gelding drew clear of his rivals over the final 200m.
Trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, Jabali Ridge defeated debutante Hungy Heart by two lengths with another long head to another first starter Yulong Progress in third.
Jabali Ridge formed part of an early two-state winning double for the Price and Kent Jnr stable, with He’ll Haunt Us winning the Magic Millions Maiden Plate at the Gold Coast shortly after the two-year-old’s Flemington success.
Jabali Ridge had finished a close second to Godolphin colt Conceited in a straight-track race at Flemington on debut on December 14 and jockey Jye McNeil believes that experience showed on Saturday.
“I thought that was a really professional win by him,” McNeil said.
“He had obviously had the experience down the straight last time and he was game in defeat. Today I thought he was quite dominant.
“I think that experience and having the run under his belt really helped him today.”
