The thrill of winning a city race with Kakanui was soon tempered for trainer Brendan McCarthy as jockey Damien Oliver walked the horse back to the winner's stall.

Lightly raced Kakanui came from worse than midfield to win the Mordialloc Sporting Club Handicap (1000m) by a nose but pulled up lame in his off foreleg.

"He just pulled up a little bit lame. Not really bad but bad enough," Oliver said.

"So I wanted to get off him and walk him back."

McCarthy has a good opinion of Kakanui but believed the gelding might have suffered a chip in his knee on first inspection.

"It's part of the game, unfortunately. You've got the highs and the lows. He's a horse the stable was probably relying on to come through for us.

"It's not the end of the road for him but we'll just have to give him a good little break, probably get his knee operated on and bring him back for the softer tracks."

Kakanui, the $3.20 favourite, scored the second win of his career in his third start as he defeated Bella Mollie ($5.50) with 1-1/2 lengths to It's A Shame Billy in third.