Life Well Lived ($3.80) produced a big turn of foot to find success in the Omni Building Group Maiden Handicap (1,100 metres) with Anthony Cavallo on board before Laffing Waters ($3.80) saluted as favourite in the McDonald Dubbo And Wellington Class 1 Handicap (1,000m) for Ashleigh Stanley.

There was still plenty of work for Life Well Lived to do in his race as the field rounded for home, with the Vancouver three-year-old gelding sitting in seventh with several horses in front of him.

Cavallo had to shift Life Well Lived a considerable distance outside into clean air and once he found space with 250 metres to go the horse still took some time to get things going.

It looked like a place was the best hope for Life Well Lived as he still sat more than a length off the pace in fifth with less than 100m to run, but a big lift in pace got him home by a half head over Jac's Legacy ($!8, Mathew Cahill).

"At the furlong I thought he didn't have a chance," Ryan said.

"Even over the last moments of the race I wasn't sure. It was just those last couple of bounds where he was able to grab that horse, so that was very pleasing.

"Whoever has ridden him - Will Stanley, Ash Stanley or Eleanor - has always said he's got a good amount of ability but he's just big and immature and they're just waiting for him to put it together.

"Even though he still did a lot wrong - and Tony said he's still very green - he's starting to get the idea, and putting the blinkers on him helped too.

"The big plus was getting a horse like him onto the big long straight at Dubbo."

Laffing Waters kept the good times coming with her second career success at start number five.

The three-year-old Wandjina filly entered the top of the straight in a share of the lead with Carry On Cathy before Ryan's runner steadily pulled ahead.

Laffing Waters saw off late dives from Diggers Reach ($26, Elissa Meredith) and Our Boy Malcolm ($5, Grant Buckley) to win by a length.

"I was very happy with her. She probably doesn't have the scope of the other horse but she's got a lot of determination, and that takes horses a long way," Ryan said.

"It was almost a carbon copy of when she won her previous start there, and Ash rode her perfectly. It surprised me to see that she ran a track record so that made the win even better.

"We won't aim too high with her, but there's a similar race for both horses in three weeks' time at Dubbo. If they come through well then we might end up going back there with them again."

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