Ron Quinton has learned plenty in his 66 years and celebrated his birthday in style with stable stalwart Monton's win at Randwick.

The former champion jockey drew on his experience to place Monton in Saturday's 1600m Benchmark 95 with 61.5kg, comparing the race to an old-style welter.

"He is a horse that had been struggling because he had raced in the good races and was too high up in the benchmark system," Quinton said.

"His rating came down a bit and we've managed to get a couple of wins in open handicaps with him.

"We had him in the Apollo Stakes but I looked at this race and remembered the old days when the welters were run off a minimum of 54 kilos when the minimum in other races was 49.

"So with the minimum now 54 I thought he got in this race OK. He got 63 (kg) but with the allowance for Sam Clipperton, I thought with 61.5 he could win."

Outsider Knead The Dough ($51) led the field while Monton ($4) was in a handy positon early.

Clipperton timed his run on Monton who produced his sprint in the final 200m to stride clear and beat Lunayir ($13) by two lengths.

Court Connection ($51) was another short half-head third, just ahead of Knead The Dough and odds-on favourite Our Desert Warrior who had blood running out of his mouth after possibly biting his tongue.

But for Quinton, who can now add OAM to his name, the win was particularly satisfying.

"It's a pretty good way to celebrate a birthday even though I stopped counting them at 40," he said.