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By Ray Hickson

It’s not lost on Reece Jones the task facing promising three-year-old Charming Legend at Randwick on Saturday but the jockey says who is he to argue with Les Bridge’s placement.

The leap from a maiden win to any race is one that’s never easy to make and Jones said on the gelding’s side is he’s the horse with all the upside going into the Midway Handicap (1600m).

Charming Legend beat five rivals in a Kensington track maiden on June 12 and is one of only two horses in the Midway to have had less than 10 starts. A few of his rivals have raced more than 50 times so he's giving away plenty of experience.

“It’s a massive step in grade, whether it’s too soon or not I’m not sure,’’ Jones said.

“Obviously he has some ability there and a mile is going to suit him. He’s the new kid on the block and it’ll be good to see how he measures up.”

That debut win by Charming Legend, $5 with TAB on Friday, took Jones a little by surprise.

Not so much in the fact he was able to kick off with a win but the manner in which he did it, hitting a flat spot on the turn but winning by 1-3/4 lengths running away.

Charming Legend wins at Kensington on June 12

“I like him, I’ve liked his trials, I like his work at home,’’ Jones said.

“I probably didn’t expect him to win first-up, I knew he would run well but he took me by surprise and showed he might be all right.

“He does take a bit of winding up and I probably didn’t expect him to take so much winding up.

“When he dropped the bridle early I thought we were in trouble. But I thought he was going to be in it once we went past just one horse, he really started to quicken up.”

Jones said with the step up to the mile there’s a chance he’ll settle not too far off the lead.

“He shows good gate speed and I think he’ll be midfield or a bit forward of midfield,’’ he said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a little bit closer, if he runs similarly to how he did when he won first-up I’d say he’d be right there. “

Among his other rides, Jones said it would be wise to forgive Dollar Magic for a rare unplaced second-up effort when she lines up in the TAB Handicap (1000m).

The five-year-old strung together six second placings on end last preparation so her first-up win at Scone was a deserved one, but Jones said her fifth behind Jedibeel at Canterbury on June 10 was a little out of character.

“It was a little disappointing since she won so well first-up,’’ he said.

“She jumped well and travelled well outside the leader but she was out of her comfort zone coming for home and didn’t take me into it.

“She showed what she’s capable of before and was consistent in this grade all last prep so I’d put a line through that."

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Randwick meeting