Robert Thompson apologised to Rags To Riches' connections after he defied them victory aboard stablemate Pepperwood in the $200,000 Bernborough Handicap at Doomben.Thompson partnered Rags To Riches in his previous start when he was narrowly beaten in the Villiers Handicap at Randwick on December 20 but the veteran hoop jumped ship to partner Pepperwood in Saturday's 1630m Listed feature.Thompson revealed Pepperwood was his 3360th winner and the win capped a stellar day for the champion jockey af

Robert Thompson apologised to Rags To Riches' connections after he defied them victory aboard stablemate Pepperwood in the $200,000 Bernborough Handicap at Doomben.

Thompson partnered Rags To Riches in his previous start when he was narrowly beaten in the Villiers Handicap at Randwick on December 20 but the veteran hoop jumped ship to partner Pepperwood in Saturday's 1630m Listed feature.

Thompson revealed Pepperwood was his 3360th winner and the win capped a stellar day for the champion jockey after he had earlier partnered brilliant three-year-old Youthful Jack to victory in the Rough Habit Plate.

"Sorry guys," he said to the runner-up's connections before he dismounted.

"I rode Rags To Riches in the Villiers last start and he tried his heart out for me.

"But he had the trip down to Sydney and back to Brisbane plus the hard run in the Villiers and I was happy to be riding Pepperwood today."

Well supported to start $4.60, Pepperwood settled worse than midfield and finished with a powerful burst in the straight to nab Rags To Riches ($7.50) in the shadows of the post to score by a neck.

Secrets Untold ($13) finished powerfully from well back to finish a half head back third but the day belonged to Thompson and winning trainer Liam Birchley.

Birchley had earlier won the Tommy Smith Slipper with raging Magic Millions favourite Paprika and the astute Eagle Farm trainer said the day was the biggest he had enjoyed thus far.

"In terms of feature races, it's easily the best day I've had as a trainer," Birchley said.

"It's great to win the race. I was fairly confident I could win the race going into to it but I couldn't split them because they have such different racing patterns.

"I thought Pepperwood might have had the edge on weights and measures because he was getting five kilos off Rags To Riches but I thought if they dawdled early the other horse would be hard to run down if they left him alone in front."

Birchley was reserved about the merit of Pepperwood's victory with a view to convincing the handicapper the horse shouldn't be over-penalised in next month's Magic Millions Cup (1800m) at the Gold Coast.

"That race used to be weight-for-age but they changed it to handicap conditions and I'm hoping he won't get weighted out of it now," Birchley said.