Talented local Amexed has produced an exceptional turn of foot in the final straight to win the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate (2000m) at Brisbane’s Doomben Racecourse this afternoon, ahead of exciting kiwi raiders Telepathic and Glorious Lad.

Jumping from the gates only fairly, the Pentire gelding was forced to settle well within the pack, more than five lengths off the pace of early leaders Saguaro, pre-post favourite Pheidon and Avalanches, who set a notably quick tempo.

Rounding into the final straight in a reasonably wide position, Amexed exploded from the main pack; pulling nearly two lengths clear and maintaining well enough to finish a half-length in the green.

Trainer Tony Gollan was delighted with Amexed’s performance in the 2014 Rough Habit Plate, confirming a tilt at the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) in four weeks as the major target this preparation.

“We brought him over here (from New Zealand) and gave him the preparation last prep; he was a very new horse and quite soft but we pushed him up to 2000 metres, gave him a break and brought him back.

“He’s third-up 2000 today with a Derby in mind, and he’s really put himself in contention now.

“We’ve just got to keep him ticking over now; the Derby’s in four weeks’ time.

“We’ll go to the Grand Prix in a fortnight and hopefully things keep working out.”

Jockey Michael Rodd delivered a perfectly timed ride on the gelding out of Danex in the 2014 Rough Habit Plate, and was quick to lay the praise on the form of his talented partner.

“I think he’s a bit underrated, this bloke” Rodd said after the race.

“His win at the Sunshine Coast was very strong, he really ran away from them late.

“Tony was very confident; I haven’t seen him so confident for a while.

“I would have liked to have been a little closer; he was a bit slow out, but he just travelled so sweetly, switched off, didn’t touch the bridle.

“At about the 600 they were just damning up in front of me and I was able to come straight off the fence to a three-wide position and just track into it really easily.

“He’s still got a lot to learn, but showed a really good turn of foot.”

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2014 Rough Habit Plate Results

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	10	AMEXED (NZ)	Tony Gollan	Michael Rodd	–	3	57kg	$16
2	14	TELEPATHIC (NZ)	Donna Logan	Mark Du Plessis	0.4L	7	55kg	$4.60
3	4	GLORIOUS LAD (NZ)	Shaune Ritchie	James McDonald	1.7L	6	57kg	$4.40
4	1	VILANOVA (NZ)	Chris Waller	Kerrin McEvoy	2.2L	2	57kg	$13
5	3	RUDY	Helen Page	Ms Tegan Harrison (a)	3.2L	9	57kg	$14
6	2	PHEIDON	Gai Waterhouse	Nash Rawiller	3.7L	1	57kg	$2F
7	11	ARKI	Kelly Doughty	Damian Browne	4.2L	13	57kg	$21
8	6	BODEGA NEGRA	Bruce W Hill	Jim Byrne	5.2L	8	57kg	$26
9	9	SAGUARO (NZ)	Peter G Moody	Chris Munce	6.5L	14	57kg	$51
10	5	CADILLAC MOUNTAIN	Peter G Moody	Stephen Baster	6.9L	12	57kg	$13
11	12	ROCK SCENT	Kelly Schweida	Michael Cahill	7.1L	11	57kg	$101
12	7	AVALANCHES	Trevor Bailey	Scott Galloway	8.4L	4	57kg	$31
13	13	ALWAYS A GIBBERER	John P Thompson	Timothy Bell	8.6L	10	57kg	$151
14	8	CASARATI	Bruce W Hill	Larry Cassidy	10.6L	5	57kg	$101