Forgeress has provided Quinton Scott with a timely win at Caulfield just days before the trainer is due to undergo open heart surgery.

The Warrnambool-based horseman has been booked into hospital next week for the procedure he says will give him a new lease on life.

Ridden by Katelyn Mallyon, Forgeress ($7.50) scored a short-head win over Iggimacool ($16) with Northern Saint ($7.50) two lengths away third.

"I haven't been real good but I'm going alright now," Scott said after the victory.

"I'm having open heart surgery next week, it's no big deal, everyone seems to have it these days.

"I got a bit crook there during the May carnival at Warrnambool.

"A mate of mine died six or eight months ago and I wasn't going down that track."

Scott said Forgeress, a rising six-year-old, was an honest mare that would continue racing into the new season.

"I wish I had a stable full of them," he said.

"One of the boys asked me this morning if she was going to stud and I said I couldn't afford to send her to stud, I've got to keep racing her."

Forgeress had been ridden by Jackie Berriman in seven of her eight starts before Saturday but Berriman was unable to stick with the mare due to riding commitments in Darwin and was replaced by Mallyon.