Iron-horse Tarzan will get a belated chance in Sydney after breaking through for his first win over 1200m at Doomben.

Tarzan ($7) had to work early but went to the lead and then held on to beat Snoopy ($7.50)by a head in the Tim Bell Memorial Handicap.

Handsome Thief ($4.40) ran on well for third a long neck back.

Tarzan had won 13 previous races but none past 1100m and in five previous attempts at 1200m had never run a place.

Trainer Stu Kendrick has planned to take Tarzan to Sydney two weeks ago but scratched him.

"We thought he would struggle from the barrier he drew so we elected to stay home for this race," Kendrick said.

"Obviously to win a race named after the late Tim Bell (a top jockey who died in 2015) was something special."

Kendrick said he would now look for a suitable race at 1000m or 1100m in Sydney for Tarzan.

"He is such an honest horse and deserves to head to Sydney," he said.

Jockey Ryan Maloney picked up the winning ride on Tarzan after his regular jockey Luke Tarrant was suspended for a court appearance on drug charges this week.

Kendrick said he had to pay credit to Tarrant who had done a lot of work with Tarzan.

"I want to send a thank you to Luke for his efforts with this horse and he told me he was ready to win at 1200m," he said.

Jockey Michael Cahill started the season off where he left the last one by completing an early double on Boom Chicka Boom ($5).

"He is the perfect short course horse because he just gets out of the barriers and goes," Cahill, who earlier won on Magic Trick, said.

Cahill was the star of the recent winter carnival, winning two Group One races on The Bostonian.

He finished fifth in the metropolitan jockeys' premiership last season and hopes to at least emulate that this season.

Trainer Paul Nolan was thrilled with the win of Spending My Time ($5) who had been unlucky at his previous start.

"It has been a while between Doomben Saturday wins and even though it was in one of the lower prizemoney races it was still a thrill," Nolan said.