Escado wins the South Australian Derby at Morphettville Winner of the SA Derby Escado ridden by Ben Melham. Picture: Calum Robertson. A GROUP 1 ride by jockey Ben Melham on Escado delivered the $500,000 Centrebet SA Derby for Victorian trainer Matt Laurie at Morphettville. Melham walked the track earlier in the day and told Laurie there was nothing wrong with the inside going. If the leaders chose to fan wide in the straight, Melham said he would stick to the rail. That decision gave the son of Casino Prince the winning advantage as race favourite Shoreham swept wide and found the centre of the course. "Ben deserves all the credit for that win with his tactics," said Laurie, who trains at Mornington. We put the blinkers on as well, which probably gave the horse an edge, but he's shown before he's a good promising stayer. Escado was sixth in the Victoria Derby in November behind Fiveandahalfstar as a $51 chance and was an outsider in early markets for SA's classic three-year-old race. Steady money saw him start at $21, although some punters questioned whether his last-start run at Geelong on the synthetic track was the form of a coming Derby winner. But it proved an ideal preparation as he won by 1.7 lengths from South Australian hope Hioctdane to become Casino Prince's second Group 1 winner after All Too Hard. The Richard Jolly-trained Hioctdane was the early Derby favourite after dominating the lead-up race last week, but bookmakers could hardly lay a bet on the son of Strada. He defied the betting drift ($4 to $7), charging home from near last to claim second.Paul Gatt decided to follow the lead of Ben Melham and made his run on the inside after having to go back early from the widest barrier. "The draw has beaten us in the finish, but we're very proud of our horse," Jolly said. I can feel we're getting closer to a first Group 1, but they're very hard to win even when you have a horse good enough. Shoreham did not race far below his rating in claiming third. Chris Symons may be reflecting on his decision to get to the outside in the straight but he wasn't the only jockey with that intention. Gerontius, for David Hayes, ran home stoutly - as he did in the recent AJC Derby - but filled the same place in fourth. Molto Bene, the only filly in the race, hit the front on the turn but her run petered out and she finished ninth and Hvasstan never travelled for Glen Boss and there is clearly something amiss.