The four-year-old provided Ryan with his 88^th winner of the season, leaving him 11 behind second-placed Tye Angland and 41 behind tearaway leader Brenton Avdulla.

Trained at Wyong by Allan Kehoe, the Skilled x Fastest Dash gelding was sent out a $3.10 favourite for the Dubbo RSL Club Class 2 Handicap (1300m) after Dubbo trainer Darren Hyde was forced to withdraw his promising gelding Westlink because of a stone bruise.

Chatteriz, from the stables of Gulgong trainer Brett Thompson, was also withdrawn after being found to be lame in the mounting yard.

In the end it was the cool hand of Ryan that prevailed, as he allowed Skilled Magic to settle back in the field, while up front Slickster ($4.60, Billy Cray) and The Clash ($41.00, Jamie Gibbons) set the tempo.

Rounding the turn Ryan hooked Skilled Magic to the outside and the gelding responded well, running past his rivals to score a resounding one-and-a-quarter length win from Wantabearomeo ($31.00, Eleanor Webster-Hawes), with Flight Risk ($6.50, Travis Wolfgram) finishing third.

“They told me he was a bit lazy so I gave him a bit of a rev up behind the gates to get his mind on the job,” Ryan said after the race.

“He had some reasonable form at Scone, which is stronger than out here, and even at Taree which I think is probably a similar standard, so I thought if I could get him wanting to race that he would be hard to beat.

“I don’t know if it worked because I wouldn’t say I was confident through the run but when we got into the straight and I asked him for an effort he responded pretty well.

“He’s only small and I didn’t want to ask him to do too much for too long or he would weaken but he sprinted quick enough to find the lead and held on okay.”

The win by Skilled Magic ended the winning run of Mudgee trainer Cameron Crockett and Cowra hoop Mathew Cahill, who had combined to claim the opening two events on the program.

Well-bred mare Reprimand ($2.90) opened proceedings in style when she ran a slick time of 56.99s in winning the Dubbo RSL Poppies Coffee Shop Maiden Handicap (1000m).

The daughter of star stallion I Am Invincible is owned by a group put together by Sydney-based syndicators Darby Racing, and sped clear of her rivals to win by three-and-a-quarter lengths.

That was backed up by a debut win from three-year-old Starcraft gelding Andy’s A Star ($3.30 eq fav) in the Dubbo RSL Health And Aquatic 3yo Plate (1100m).

Cahill was forced to work hard as Andy’s A Star was wide throughout and did plenty wrong in the straight but still had enough ability to beat Rosaria Caterina ($5.50, Grant Buckley) in a driving finish.

Dubbo Turf Club’s attention now turns to its next meeting, the Boys Day Out Program to be held on Monday, May 7.