Maloney cleans up at Doomben

By Brad Bishop 

Ryan Maloney celebrated a red-letter day at Doomben on Saturday, riding four winners including the victors in the day's two $160,000 Listed events.

The ex-pat Victorian made favourite backers happy in the first of the features, getting home aboard $2.50 punters' elect Midnight In Tokyo in the Tattersall's Classic (1200m), before engineering an upset of sorts in the Recognition Stakes.

Maloney lasted aboard $7.50 chance Rockribbed in that 1350m event, scoring a nose win over that gelding's Tony Gollan-trained stablemate Boomtown Boss, the $3.20 favourite who suffered a costly interference 150m from home.

"I've had a bit of luck going my way with a few of the boys being in the sidelines and I was the lucky one to pick up the, well, not scraps by any means," Maloney said of his quartet.

Rockribbed bounced back from a ninth placing in the 1200m Keith Noud Classic at his first run for the campaign and while Maloney recognised they might have had things go their way, he pointed out that things did not work out perfectly for his mount either.

"He began really nicely, just trucked into the straight and I didn't have any options bar to go back to the inside, but he was too good," he said.

Conversely, Maloney could not have been happier with the way things panned out for the Annabel and Rob Archibald-trained Midnight In Tokyo, who broke an 18-month drought with her decisive 1-3/4-length win over Lonhro's Queen.

"We controlled it and as soon as I released the brakes at the top of the straight I was basically just a passenger and lucky enough to be on her."

Maloney's win on Midnight In Tokyo was his second for the Archibald stable, having earlier won aboard Space Tracker ($4), which followed his win in the first race of the day aboard the Ciaron Maher-trained Silver Wedding ($1.90).

Maloney cashed in on Ben Thompson's unavailability at the Doomben meeting, extending his lead in the Brisbane Metropolitan Jockeys' Premiership to eight, 40 wins to 32.