Savanna Amour held-off Flying Jess and Written Era to win the 2017 Ladbrokes Cockram Stakes at Caulfield this afternoon.

Savanna Amour scored an impressive victory in the Ladbrokes Cockram Stakes. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos

All three horses were a chance of winning the race at the 50 metre mark, but jockey Ben Melham timed his run to perfection on Savanna Amour and she got her nose down at the right time to record another black-type win.

Melham admitted after the race that not everything went to plan on Savanna Amour and at the top of the straight he thought she might be a good thing beaten.

“She really travelled strong in these blinkers today and she towed me further forward than I wanted to be,” Melham said.

“She didn’t settle really well and I was lucky that it opened up when we straightened.

“She towed me right into the back of Sullivan Bay, who was going nowhere, and I knew I had plenty of horse, but I had nowhere to go.

“When it opened up she showed plenty of fight and she was too good.”

Savanna Amour failed to fire in the Bletchingly Stakes, but trainer John Meagher was fairly confident that his star mare would bounce back to her best in the Ladbrokes Cockram Stakes and he was quick to pay credit to the ride of Melham.

“She is a great mare and she has a great action, but in all fairness he rode her fantastic,” Meagher said.

“I was a little bit disappointed after the Bletchingly, but he (Melham) said that she didn’t handle the ground at all and I thought Ben Melham isn’t a fool, so that is good.

“She is ready, but we need her to get 1600 metres.

“We will just plan and have a look.”

Fuhryk was extremely well-backed in the lead-up to the Ladbrokes Cockram Stakes, but she never found clear running and went to the line virtually untested.