Starting as a popular pick among the huge crowd in the $20,000 race over 1400 metres, the Jeff Brasch-trained four-year-old produced an irresistible final burst down the centre of the track to defeat Moment of Clarity ($10.60) for Murray-Leslie.

Ryan’s classy gelding So Genourous ($3.10) was installed as favourite in the race lead-up and jockey Mathew Cahill was proactive in trying to take out the race before eventually fading to miss the placings.

He jumped beautifully from gate six and led from the opening metres, and at one stage down the back of the

course he stretched his margin to four lengths.

Ideal Position was in anything but the sort of territory his name suggested, having settled behind mid-field despite the trainer hoping he would be somewhere near the speed.

As the leader set sail for home, though, master hoop Greg Ryan positioned him perfectly to storm down the centre of the course – knowing that his mount had plenty of juice left in the tank – and the jockey won his second straight Saddle after Pimpala Secret’s victory 12 months ago.

“At the top of the straight I thought ‘gee they’ve got a big break on us’ but I had the feeling that the leader was starting to get a bit tired coming up to that last furlong,” Ryan said afterwards.

“This horse has a lot of class and he’s got better races in him than what’s on offer out in the bush.”

Trained by Brasch, Ideal Position is by Snippetson out of Ideal Option and, according to the trainer, he is another of the region’s great value stories.

“He is a really nice horse and this is definitely the biggest win of his career so far,” Brasch said.

“He was bought for just $1600 as an unraced three-year-old and after today he is six wins from 12 starts, so he’s done a terrific job since we got him.”

In addition to So Genourous and Ideal Position, Ranger’s Boy ($6.20) and Boomerang ($8.40) were also prominent in the betting though the latter misbehaved somewhat in the barriers and didn’t really feature in the race at any point.

With So Genourous setting the pace, Letchworth ($11.80) settled second with Sapphiregaze ($29.20) also taken forward.

Moment of Clarity settled back in the field and was kept quiet by jockey Mark Lister.

As the leader extended his advantage it was simply a matter of whether he would be able to hang on, and up until the final 200m he looked like he could, but Ideal Position didn’t take long to gobble him up once he was let loose.

Moment of Clarity’s finish was eye-catching, but he was never quite in position to run down the eventual winner, while Ranger’s Boy came home nicely to pick up third.

“The plan had been for Greg to ride him forward, but he got pushed back a little bit,” Brasch said.

“He was never quite too far back, though, and I always thought if Greg could get space he would be able to get home; he loves having some speed to chase.

“He is a really nice horse, and Greg is a great rider – that’s why we got him for this race and it worked out perfectly.”