Noonan jnr got the 40-1 shot to the line in the last stride to nudge out favourite Philda in the Clamms Seafood Handicap after coming from the rear of the field of 11, taking his chances on the rails and then getting a dream opening at the 300 metres.

His father said he thought his son rode the nine-year-old mare well.

Noonan jnr reckoned if he hadn't won he would have been in for a blast from master and father.

"Dad was good with the instructions, saying to ride her like a track gallop and make her last 100 metres her best," he told The Sunday Age.

"I was a bit concerned going back to the paint [rails]. I thought dad might cut my head off, but we got out at the right time."

A year 11 student at Padua College, Mornington, the 17yearold came first in the national awards for school-based apprenticeships for all industries.

Since he took up his apprenticeship about 18 months ago, he has ridden 64 winners, eight of them on metropolitan tracks and all of them since February this year. His winners have won about $1.2million in prize money and he has a strike rate of one in 10.

Noonan snr, a former teacher, has been training for 19 years, has more than 45 horses in work at Mornington and has trained a total 817 winners.