The Showdown captured by iconic Makybe Diva colours

Victory in a $1 million contest at Caulfield has been achieved wearing the colours of a turf legend from Australia.

From the widest barrier, Big Wigs powered wide down the Caulfield straight to take out the Showdown (1200m) held on Saturday.

The colt prepared by Phillip Stokes bore the colours renowned from three-time Melbourne Cup victor Makybe Diva, who succumbed to colic two weeks prior.

Lachlan Neindorf piloted Big Wigs ($3.70), who fended off the game $3.10 market leader Miss Chanel by a narrow half-head margin, with Knurl ($10) trailing by an additional 5-¼ lengths for third place.

Jordan Childs on Miss Chanel checked the head-on replay before official weights were confirmed.

Representing his father Phillip, Tommy Stokes called it a superb success carrying the Santic colours.

Santic became known as the tuna fisherman out of Port Lincoln in South Australia, where Phillip Stokes first developed as a trainer.

"It means a lot to have these colours aboard," Tommy Stokes said.

"Mr Santic is here on course today and he's brought a whole heap of owners with him. It's a massive prize money race and it's a race we targeted for a fairly long time. He's been to Adelaide, he's come back, we thought he'd be winning at Ballarat, but he ran into a smart one, but he's been able to hold himself nicely here and Lachie summed it up perfectly."

Neindorf had a game plan ready despite the awkward draw, heading to the enclosure pre-race.

"I think we were all a bit worried when the barrier draw came out, but it was a blessing in disguise in the end because we had all the three main dangers drawn inside of us," Neindorf said.

"I wasn't sure where they were going to be but I was confident that I would end up on the back of one of them and I was confident that my horse had a good turn of foot and the extra rise in distance was going to suit him that little bit more. To be honest, I probably still let him go a little bit early. I probably could have straightened up and held onto him for an extra 50 metres before putting him through his gears because, jeez, he got there fast, but full credit to the runner-up, it was tough. I was really worried the last 50 (metres) that she was going to come back and almost get me on the line again."

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