A change of heart and a crucial gear switch brought a change of luck for Epic at Doomben on Saturday.

Trainer Kelly Schweida gave serious thought to scratching Epic following overnight showers because the gelding struggles on rain-affected going.

"The older he gets the worse he goes on soft going and when we had that rain I thought about pulling the pin," Schweida said.

"I was umming and ahhing until I walked the track this morning and I was pleasantly surprised how firm it actually was."

Schweida decided to add blinkers to Epic's gear in the wake of his disappointing sixth at his previous start.

"He's only ever put in one bad run at the mile here and that was the other day when he got back and didn't run on like I thought he would," he said.

"I was a bit worried the blinkers would fire him up because the last time he raced in them he over-raced badly."

Schweida's fears proved unfounded when Epic ($6) settled well for jockey Michael Cahill before finishing strongly to win by a short neck from Keep Cool ($7).

Kingdoms, the $3.50 favourite, was a half-head away third after racing erratically in the straight.

"I don't know if he stood in a hole or changed legs but he shifted out abruptly just when I thought he was going to win," apprentice Luke Dittman said.

"He lost momentum as a result but his run was still super and he's on track to win next time."

Trainer Brian Smith said plans for a Sydney spring carnival campaign for Kingdoms were unchanged but he would reassess Jetset Lad ($3.8) after he laboured to finish sixth.