Adelaide trainer Gordon Richards had the usual winners' regret after the win of Belfast Boy at Flemington.

"I wish I'd had had more on him," Richards said.

As it was, the trainer had a good result at odds of $31 about a horse he "really fancied".

Richards said his only concern was that he ran Belfast Boy at Morphettville six days ago and wasn't sure how he would back up.

"I probably shouldn't have run him at home on Boxing Day," he said.

"I'd was pretty confident with him today, but I just had a concern about backing him up inside a week."

Richard's faith in the horse stemmed from his liking for the Flemington straight track, a course over which he scored his previous win almost 18 months ago.

"When he comes to Flemington he's a different horse, he loves it here," he said.

Richards' confidence was matched by that of jockey Noel Callow who sensed he was on a winner from soon after the start.

"He was never going to lose," Callow said.

"He certainly didn't feel like a twenty-to-one shot."

Belfast Boy ($21) did best in a driving finish to score by a head from Paaratte Pat ($8) with the same margin to Chelembra ($15) in third.

Richards intends to make the most of Belfast Boy's fondness for Flemington, selecting another 1000m race for him at the track on January 19.