Ryan Houston finally paid off Grahame Begg with a Saturday City win

It took six months to build but Ryan Houston finally paid off Grahame Begg with a Saturday City win when he rode British Columbia to victory at Caulfield on Saturday.

The win in the $130,000 Sportsbet Same Race Multi Handicap (1400m) was the first Saturday City win for the 20-year-old apprentice.

Houston had previously finished first on Saturdays but was demoted to third on his ride at Flemington on Jan. 13 after causing a collision on the final turn. Rivaport,

like British Columbia, is trained by Begg, who is a strong supporter of Houston.

"That race still haunts me to this day but it's nice to have a first official winner on Saturday for Grahame," said Houston.

"He's given me some good rides and I'm grateful he's got me by the side of him."

Begg was pleased to see Houston make the most of his opportunity on a ride he hasn't won since May last year.

"Ryan's been doing really well. “We could tell from the beginning he was a rider with a lot of potential,” Begg said.

“He’s coming into this time of year and he performed extremely well today.”

Houston took advantage of the 16-pound (53.5kg) British Columbia sire after claiming his 3kg (3kg) start to deny the son of Vancouver a $21 starting price.

The five-year-old stallion sat just behind leader Frumos before charging up front in the straight and sprinting to a 2-1/4-length victory, the $3.40 Nation’s Call betting favourite, with Miracle Spin ($17) third by a length.

“He just didn’t look like he was going to lose in the straight,” Houston said.

“He did everything right, sat behind the leader and then I just let him go in the straight. “

I came into this track with confidence and everything was on track.”

The win in British Columbia was Houston’s 74th career success and eighth at the metropolitan level, with the other seven coming in midweek events.