Riverina apprentice Tyler Schiller, who went into five days of quarantine for the ride, used the 3kg weight claim to his advantage.

The $5.50 second favourite settled just behind the speed on the rails and found the openings at the right time to nearly salute, only for the Tracey Bartley-trained Kiss Sum ($14) to finish stylishly and prevail by just over a length.

A Wagga syndicate of 12, including local businessman Jackson Oehm, selected Dufresne after winning one of the slots in the race.

They shared in 50 per cent of the prizemoney after the Anthony Cummings-trained gelding's effort, or just under $70,000.

"We always thought it was a chance and it just got beat by one better horse on the day. We were extremely happy with how it all went," Oehm said.

"I think he hit the lead with about 150m to go briefly, we were pretty chirpy at that point.

"We've been talking about some plans and what we'll do with that (prizemoney)."

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Schiller, who has only recently returned from a layoff with a broken wrist, only enhanced his burgeoning reputation with his ride in the biggest race of his career so far.

He won the NSW provincial apprentice premiership, and rode three metropolitan winners before his injury.

"He got the right run and bolted through the gaps, he just got beat by a better one," Schiller said.

"The winner's come from behind him so you can't really knock it and it was eased down late.

"Mr Cummings didn't want to lead yesterday with the blinkers off (for the first time), he just wanted to see him relax and he did that beautifully.

"He took the blinkers off because he thought he went a bit keen in the Bondi Stakes (when electing to lead).

"It was my biggest result in a big race, I was pretty stoked. Entering the race I thought I had a really good chance, I was really happy I got the opportunity."

Schiller said delivering a day to remember for some fellow Wagga race fanatics made it sweeter.

"I heard a few Wagga boys owned the slot, it was good to get a result for them. One for the battlers," he said.

"From here I'll stay in the metro zone, but I'll probably ride metro and provincial and hopefully get rid of my provincial claim by the end of the season."

Meanwhile, former leading Riverina jockey Blaike McDougall will ride Carif in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup.

The six-year-old drew barrier eight and was a rank $126 outsider on TAB fixed odds as of Sunday afternoon.

However he does boast strong form in two career starts over 3200m, including a win in last year's Sandown Cup and second in this year's Brisbane Cup.

McDougall has begun his move to Victoria strongly with two wins at Group level in recent weeks.

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