The winners of the two richest races of the spring carnival have combined to record a Listed-race victory with Melrose Place at Flemington.

Cox Plate-winning trainer Danny O’Brien legged Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Damien Oliver aboard the filly in the Heritage Stakes (1200m) on Thursday.

The late scratching of Minaj after she burst through her barrier took the natural leader out of the race with Romancingthestone assuming that role.

Oliver bided his time on Melrose Place ($11) and assumed control late, beating Sense Of Hite ($9.50) by 1-1/2 lengths with Fare Well ($18) making ground from last for third another 1-1/4 lengths away.

O’Brien bred Melrose Place from Purrealist and Miss Mancini, both of whom he trained.

“It’s especially nice to breed a winner as I trained both the sire and dam,” O’Brien said.

“She has always shown ability but hasn’t had a lot of luck in a couple of her runs.

“She got pushed into the rail at her last start here so we gave her a month between runs to aim a race over the carnival.

“We’ll give her a rest now and head towards some of the sprinting races in the autumn.”

Oliver said he had the race under control.

“If you can have a bludge in the first half of a straight you’re always going to have big finish,” he said.

“They weren’t going hard which helped her relax.”

Oliver said Wednesday had been hectic with non-stop media commitments in the aftermath of his Cup win but he had managed a 15-minute power nap in the afternoon.

“It was a long day and I slept well last night,” he said.