Stakes performer Talisker broke through for his maiden win at Riccarton’s synthetic meeting on Thursday when victorious in the Christchurch Casino SI Racing Awards 15 September Maiden (1200m).

The three-year-old gelding had placed in two of his four previous starts as a juvenile, including runner-up behind stablemate Trobriand in the Gr.2 Eclipse Stakes (1200m) at Te Rapa on Boxing Day.

He had two trials leading into his fresh-up run and trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson were pleased with what they saw from their gelding.

He was pushed forward early by apprentice jockey Niranjan Parmar to take up a front-running role. The pair kept a solid tempo up front and proved too strong for their rivals, with Talisker running out a 2-1/2 length victor over Ponzi Pony.

“It was a good effort because he did a bit of work to get across (lead) and I thought he was hugely impressive, after doing so much work, the way he strode away to win,” Walker said.

“We’ve got a very high opinion of the stallion Embellish, and this bloke will only get better as he gets over more distance.”