JOCKEY Ben Melham kept the flag flying for Ballarat racing identities with an easy win on favorite Durendal in the $70,000 Isuzu Handicap, 1400m.
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Melham bounced Durenda ($3.50 favourite) out from his rails draw and settled in a perfect trail fourth behind leader Society Man.
He went up on the outside of the leader at the 200m and after a short tussle moved away to win comfortably by two lengths, with Tax Evader third
The winning time of one minute 23.7 seconds was only 0.8 seconds outside the track record.
The Flemington training partnership Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra prepare Durendal, which is a four-year-old gelding by Medaglia D’oro. He has had 14 starts for five wins and just shy of $290,000 in earnings.
Melham earlier in the day finished 12th on Index Linked in the Ballarat Cup – a Chris Waller stablemate of the winner, Junoob.
