The hometown galloper had put the writing on the wall with three minor placings from his previous six starts and could not have timed his first career win any better.

Bullet Kid saluted in the equal-richest maiden staged in Australia on the day, a $40,000 affair.

That he did was thanks to the eskimo-like temperament of Graham, who did not panic when the four-year-old missed the kick and capitalised on inside runs to power home from Yueldoo by ¾ of a length.

“It was a good effort from him,” Graham reported post-race.

“He got back, but tracked up behind them and got a nice run through, there wasn’t any problem with the inside and he hit the line strongly.

“You can’t sneeze at winning a $40,000 maiden, it’s a good result for him.”

Bullet Kid ($8) is prepared by Craig Martin and owned by a former Tamworth local now based in Canberra.

Martin did not go into the race over-confident, but described his pleasure at the result.

“I thought Geoff O’Brien’s horse (Snipex Abaa) was going to be hard to beat at the weights and we were probably going to be a place hope.

“Pete did a good job, we always thought they were going to fan at the turn and that’s how it panned out.”

Bullet Kid banked connections $22,200 in little more than 74 seconds, running a time of 1:14.76 on a track then rated a Soft 7.

Yueldoo, a debutant trained at Scone by Rod Northam, ran a cheeky second with former Victorian Divine Brown the eye-catching runner, closing home strongly for third-place in her first start for Gunnedah trainer Gavin Groth.

Snipex Abaa, the hottest favourite on the program, having started $2.20 on track, led, but tired late to finish in fourth.

Mark down Larlabrook as a horse to follow after his winning debut over 1000m for Dubbo trainer Clint Lundholm and renowned hoop Greg Ryan.

The son of Ready’s Image was sent out the $4 equal favourite and shook off Tamworth-hope The Lion.

The trip from Taree proved a fruitful one for trainer Bob Milligan and jockey Chloe Baker.

The pair teamed up for a winning double courtesy of Valbeata and Hesco Gold.

Valbeata dashed away with a 1200m Class 1 Handicap as a $5 chance and followers of the Milligan stable would have been rapt as Hesco Gold prevailed in the last.

Hesco Gold ($4.60) thwarted So You Know, with favourite Three Hats rounding out the trifecta.

Even with a downgrade of the track from Good 3 to Heavy 8, the meeting was completed right on schedule.