Lovelock-Wiggins has been making a slow comeback from a crashing fall at Gundagai in October, but showed he was right back on track with an early double at Kembla.

"I suffered a fractured skull, fractured eye-socket and a broken finger in the fall and I only got the all-clear to resume last month." he said after his first win.

His first Kembla ride back was for Randwick trainer Kevin Moses, and, after steering the three-year-old filly Acouplamas to a narrow win in the Gordie McLeod Plate (1000m), he had to survive a protest from Josh Adams rider of the favourite Miss Verdegaze, alleging interference over the final 150m.

It was quickly overruled and Lovelock-Wiggins then donned the colours of Sheikh Mohammed to partner the Peter Snowden-trained Lockers to a most impressive victory in the Glen Saville Maiden (1000m). The son of Octagonal was heavily supported on the strength of a good recent trial form and powered home by 11/2 lengths to score in a new class record of 57.51sec.

"I think the boss (Snowden) has a pretty big opinion of this one," stable representative Jason Patrick said of the gelding, big and near-black like his sire.

"I think he's had a few problems but he should kick on from this."

The victory was the 81st of his career for Lovelock-Wiggins, who is apprenticed in Canberra to his father, Peter, a riding star of the '70s and '80s who won the ACT jockeys premiership as an apprentice.

Taylor, who lost his right to claim an allowance at country meetings as a result of the win, will still be entitled to an allowance at provincial and metropolitan level.

However, he will be having another short lay-off after this week as the stewards took exception to his handling of Survival in a later race and suspended him for a week from February 7 for failing to ride the filly out to the line.