Arty Pharty ($10, Mitch Turnbull) caused an upset in the opening race by holding out the well-backed favourite Always Bopping ($1.70, Bernie Hewitt) in a hard fought battle to the line.

Always Bopping appeared to have bombed his winning chances when he broke at the start but Hewitt launched a huge comeback effort on the favourite, falling just a metre shy of victory.

But there was no taking the shine of Arty Pharty's gutsy staying effort.

Turnbull's runner appeared to be under pressure at the top of the straight but found a way to win.

Winning trainer Steve Turnbull said Arty Pharty has made a habit of producing heart-stopping finishes.

"Being low in grade helps him a lot but he's got great gate speed so he's always going to be up there with them. He's a perfect little racehorse who never wins by far but does the job," he said.

"He's always been an ordinary trackworker so it's been really hard to get an accurate guide on him. He's done a really good job for how he used to trackwork here.

"You just can't fault him at the moment. He's keeps doing the job. Yes, it's going to be harder when he gets up in grade but he's a horse who I don't think completely puts in.

"Even tonight, on the turn it looked like they had him and he kept doing enough to keep them out."

Gate seven hardly proved an issue for Arty Pharty as Mitch Turnbull easily found the lead with his runner.

Cruising Bellew sat behind the leader and Heidi Boom was next in line. Watched From Above led the outside line, sitting alongside Cruising Bellew.

Hewitt felt he couldn't afford to stay stuck at the back of the field and worked forward to take that position away when the field received the bell.

At the 400m Always Bopping drew up alongside Arty Pharty and the leading pair put on a small break over the field.

The rest of the field lined up just a couple of metres off the duo but it was evident midway down the straight that they would be racing for third.

Arty Pharty lifted under pressure to pull clear inside the last 100 metres and deny Always Bopping his last-to-first effort.

Heidi Boom ($7, Doug Hewitt) won a cluttered battle for third place ahead of Dontch See It ($6, Nathan Turnbull).

Arty Pharty arrived in Australia only in January this year, winning at Parkes in his third start in the country, and has since added three Bathurst wins.