Good Standing led from start to finish to record a tough victory in the 2016 Ladbrokes Caulfield Classic at Caulfield this afternoon.

Good Standing led from start to finish to take out the 2016 Ladbrokes Classic. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos

Blake Shinn was handed the lead in the early stages of the Ladbrokes Classic and he was able to set a very comfortable tempo throughout before he kicked away from his rivals at the top of the straight.

Rocketeer made a charge at Good Standing late, but the son of Artie Schiller had too big a gap on his rivals and he was able to hang on to record just the second victory of his racing career.

Shinn said that he was slightly cautious about leading due to the heavy head wind at Caulfield this afternoon, but he was confident that he had the race won when he felt how much horse he had underneath him at the 600 metre mark.

“He gave me a great ride,” Shinn said.

“He pretty much just ambled to the front, ideally with this wind you didn’t want to lead, but we got gifted it and I was happy to rate him there because I knew that I was on the best horse in the race.

“I had confident that I could lead into this head wind and dictate the tempo to myself and at the 600 I had a lapful of horse.

“He has a great turn-of-foot this galloper and he has mixed it with the best three-year-olds around.

“With even luck today he was going to be too good and he prove that.

“I know today was worth a fair bit of money and he beat some nice staying types, but he is going to mix it with the best around when it comes to the autumn.”

Trainer James Cummings has always had a big opinion of Good Standing and he was delighted to see the three-year-old record his first race win since he took out the Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on February 27.

Good Standing has been included in the entries for the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington in a fortnight, but Cummings revealed that the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (2000m) on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival – the former Mackinnon Stakes – is a potential option for the entire.

“It is going to be tough all day, but you had to respect the strength of his win,” Cummings said.

“If he strikes a lot of wet tracks in the autumn we might race him very sparingly there, so the spring as a three-year-old could be a big time for him.

“I have him in the Derby and we can think about how strongly he won today because I have also been pretty interested in getting him to an Emirates on the final day of the Carnival.

“He would carry 51 kilos there and if some of those big guns go to the paddock he could give a race like that a big shout.

“I was very proud of his effort.”

Rocketeer savaged the line to finish an eye-catching second, while Inference did not have a great deal of luck in running.