Le Don De Vie having his first start for Maher and training partner David Eustace drifted in the betting markets from $41 to $81 before defeating Tuvalu by half-a-neck in the 1600 metre contest.

Maher said the win by the lightly raced six-year-old was a pleasant surprise.

"The stable doesn't normally have winners at $81," the Winslow training export said. "He would be my longest priced winner. I would say the win put paid to a lot of punters quadrellas.

"The team at our Ballarat stable have done a great job getting Le Don De Vie ready for this race. We knew he had been working well but to win was a nice surprise.

"We've got various options open to us now with Le Don De Vie after that win. We may take him up to Sydney for the McKell Cup at Rosehill on June 18 for his next start before looking at races in Queensland over the winter months."

Le Don De Vie, who won the 2021 Warrnambool Cup while in the Anthony and Sam Freedman stable likes wet tracks, according to Maher.

"We're still working Le Don De Vie out," he said. "I think there's still a fair bit of improvement in him going forward. He loves wet ground and he'll be even better in races over more ground in the future.

"I think he looks set for a nice winter campaign."

Saturday's win took Le Don De Vie's stakemoney to more then $525,000 from 24 starts.

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