It's like getting a hat-trick in cricket and it's just as rare - training the first three placegetters in a race.

But that's what champion trainer Peter Moody achieved at Caulfield on Saturday and it's not the first time he's done it.

In February, Moody went one-two-three in the exalted air of the Group One Lightning Stakes (1000m) with the great Black Caviar finishing ahead of stablemates Moment of Change and Golden Archer.

It wasn't such esteemed company in the BMW Handicap (1400m) when Lidari ($12) and High Esteem ($5.50) stormed down the outside in the last 100m to run down the favourite Strawberry Boy ($2) when it seem it was his race for the taking.

The half-neck win to Lidari over High Esteem surprised Moody because he considered Strawberry Boy a good thing.

He thought Lidari, a former French import that last raced in May over 2000m at Flemington, didn't have the racing manners to win.

"The sectionals might tell the favourite set it up, I don't know," Moody said.

Lidari has been nominated for the Caulfield Cup and the Cox Plate and Moody says he will approach future races with an open mind.