A great front running ride by Katelyn Mallyon saw Great Esteem lead all of the way to win the Listed $120,000 Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) at Caulfield today.

Great Esteem, above, leads all of the way to win the Heatherlie Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Mallyon took Great Esteem ($11) straight to the front from barrier one and rated the six year old perfectly in front to record a one and a quarter lengths win over the $4 favourite Tom Melbourne.

The Team Hawkes trained Longeron ($8) raced in the first four throughout the race and hung on for third just ahead of Magnapal ($7).

The Stuart Webb trained Great Esteem had a 5kg drop in weight on his last start win in a 1600m BenchMark 844 Handicap at Caulfield on August 13 and Mallyon used that to her advantage by setting an even tempo out in front and scoring back to back wins.

“He has been terrific and again today he never looked in doubt,” Webb said.

“He came to us as tried older horse. A different environment, the blinkers.”

Webb said that Great Esteem had come to the stable with a jumping career in mind and even though he does love being schooled over the jumps, he has redeemed his himself as a good flat performer.

“He actually came to us as a jumper, and I don’t know if he is trying to save his career at the moment,” Webb said.

“He is a terrific jumper, he has done it three times this week, he has gone down the lane twice.

“My foreman Dan Williams has done a great job, He rides him every day and schools him and every time he faces the hurdle his ears are pricked and it has really changed him around.”

Webb hasn’t mapped out a firm Spring Carnival program for Great Esteem but said the Group 3 $150,000 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on September 17 could be a nice race for him.

Heatherlie Stakes Results