New Zealand raider Badgers Nuts (NZ) (Rageese) is a maiden no longer after scoring over 1350m at Doomben on Wednesday.

The Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray-trained son of Rageese went into the race in good form, having finished runner-up over 1100m on the Sunshine Coast polytrack last month and stable connections said he had improved from the run.

“Last time we ran second and he was probably not quite fit enough and the winner had a softer run,” stable travelling foreman Roger Smith said.

“We thought he would win there, but he has done a good job today and he has trained on.”

Smith said Badgers Nuts has a tendency to pull and he got up to his old antics on Wednesday.

“I said to Sam (Collett, jockey) ‘if he is going to pull, let him slide along’. He did a bit of that (pulling) at Caloundra and it probably cost him the race, but we got lucky today,” he said.

Another run in Queensland is now on the cards for the three-year-old before he returns to New Zealand.

“I don’t know what Shaune has got in-mind, but we might look at another race now we are here. Play the game you are lucky at,” Smith said.