VETERAN jockey Cyril Small knows a thing or two about piloting gallopers who love to bowl along at the head of fields.

After all, Small was in the saddle aboard the free-wheeling Vo Rogue, which adopted catch-me-if-you-can tactics against the best racehorses in the land a few decades ago.

Small, who had a ride in the race, would have been impressed by the performance by Gold Coast apprentice Anthony Allen, who piloted Willyclang to an all-the-way victory in the feature event on the card, the Melaleuca Station Memorial Gardens Cup, 1530m, at Murwillumbah races yesterday.

Allen had Willyclang best to begin and the pair dictated the pace from go to whoa to score by a bit more than a length from the $2 favourite Bradfield, with Renmark ($7) a similar margin away in third place.

While Bradfield carried the bulk of punters' money, Willyclang was also heavily supported in the betting ring, firming late in the market to start at $3.

Willyclang is trained on the Gold Coast by Maryann Brosnan, who turned out the horse in fine fettle for his assignment.

Allen was instructed by the trainer and owners to ping the horse out of the stall and go straight to the front, which he did after a short early tussle with Bradfield, which tried to hold down the leader's role.

Once Allen clicked him up, Willyclang surged to a clear lead and led into the back straight from Mambo Princess, while Bradfield settled back just off the pace in third place, getting the gun run in behind the leaders.

Coming up to the home turn, Danny Peisley eased Bradfield around the leaders' heels to join in three wide as they straightened for the run home.

Mambo Princess quickly hoisted the white flag and Willyclang and Bradfield settled down to fight it out. Half-way down the straight, Willyclang began to assert his superiority and gradually moved away to score a comfortable victory.

The opening event on the six-race Tweed Heads Jockey Club card was the Jason Birney Memorial Maiden Plate, which provided race-goers with a thrill as three horses flashed across the line to send the result to a photo-finish.

Ballistic, ridden patiently by four kilogram-claiming apprentice Jeanette Jones, got up by a neck from Miss Pettifog ($4), with Dubai Falcon, the $3 equal favourite with the winner, a neck away in third position.

It was a gutsy performance from Ballistic, which is trained on the Gold Coast by hobby trainer Paul Jones, who has just two horses in work at present.

Ballistic was given no peace near the head of the field by Sensational Hill, which shared the lead on the run around the home turn.

At that stage Dubai Falcon, which had been given a good cart into the race by the leading pair, looked all over a winner as he cruised up three wide on the point of the turn.

But Ballistic refused to yield and kept grinding away to withstand Dubai Falcon's challenge and then the late surge by Miss Pettifog, which ran on doggedly from centre field.

Johnston, who is apprenticed to leading Gold Coast mentor Brian Guy, has now kicked home six winners and loses a kilogram off her allowance.