Yogi made John Allen earn every cent of his riding fee when winning the Oliver Street Plate (2500m) at Flemington on National Jockey Celebration Day.
Allen was hard at work before the home turn on the easing $3.20 Darren Weir-trained favourite and was still pushing hard into the home straight as stablemate Chequered Flag struck the front.
Allen kept driving and Yogi responded, lifting in the final strides to edge Chequered Flag ($3.60 - $3.30) and score by a short half head with Kawabata ($21 - $13) making up ground for third, a further two lengths away.
It was the first win at Flemington for Allen who said the five-year-old was a relaxed individual.
"He's a real laid back character which in some ways is hard for me but it's good for him as he saves his energy," Allen said.
"We rolled along at a good tempo and we were spread out a bit.
"We had to make a long run around them - I always thought I was going to get there but we did only just.
"Thank god he put his head down and picked up for me."
Yogi finished runner-up last time out over 2100m at Sandown and Allen said the step up in trip suited the son of Raise The Flag.
"He travelled into IT pretty well but I had to put some pressure on him 600m out," Allen said.
"Once we got to the outside in the straight I always thought he was going to get there.
"Fair play to the runner-up, he really found when I came to him and really made my horse work to get past him."
