After nine attempts, imported stayer Birdman ($5.50) finally posted his first Australian victory, delivering Chris Waller and jockey Kerrin McEvoy a tough win at Randwick.

Drawn the inside alley, McEvoy tracked the speed perfectly before peeling off the fence at the right time. Birdman surged late to catch tearaway leader Full Count Felicia and just held on from Adelaide River ($19), while Etna Rosso ($51), another Waller-trained runner, finished a distant third.

Waller admitted it was pleasing to see the five-year-old deliver after steady but luckless efforts earlier in his prep. “From our perspective he’s just steadily been working towards something. He needed to start doing it,” he said. “He got to a more suitable distance today, had a lovely draw, a nice run in transit and a good confident ride… Logically, he’s heading the right way towards Cups, that’s what he was bought for.”

McEvoy echoed those ambitions, pointing towards longer-distance features. “Ideally I think a little bit more juice in the ground suits him better as well,” he said. “He floated when he got there so he thought the job was done. Luckily he lifted when he saw the other horse coming. If he can stay a bit further the Metropolitan is going to be right up his alley.”

Birdman now tops markets at $4 for the Metropolitan, sits at $11 for the Caulfield Cup and is quoted at $26 for the Melbourne Cup later in spring.