Punters can toast Damian Oliver for a brilliant ride in landing the favourite, Safariann, a narrow winner of the opening race at Moonee Valley.

She was never far off the lead coming to the home turn, except she was the meat in the sandwich, there was no exit.

Alucinari shot away with looked like a winning lead, when Oliver changed course and angled for a run on the rails.

Thanks for a great ride and quick decision the filly has kept her record intact, having won previously at Geelong.

She opened as favourite but when the money came for Dangerous Breeding and the eventual favourite, Alucinari, she was the one that drifted.

Safariann winning narrowly

Never further back than running fourth, she got hemmed in at the top of the straight from horses coming across from the outside, she held her ground pretty well, except there was nowhere to go when it was time to go.

She appears to have quite a bit of potential and likely to get further than the 1200 metres she won over on Saturday.

An eight day break from winning at Geelong didn’t bother her in the least, she took it all in her stride as her trainer, Colin Little, predicted.

Little has visions of the spring; hence she is likely to be off the scene for a couple of months.

Colin Little trainer of Safariann