Tulloch Lodge will take two lead-up winners to Saturday’s The Ingham, with jockey Tim Clark opting to ride The Gong victor Riodini over Festival Stakes winner Dajraan in the $2 million Group 2 mile at Randwick.
Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will also add handy miler Surf Dancer to their team for the race formerly known as the Villiers Stakes, which will draw a capacity field.
Tim Clark punches Riodini to victory in The Gong at Kembla Grange last month.Credit:Getty
Riodini hadn’t won in two years in Australia before breaking the 1600m Kembla track record in taking The Gong under the expert guidance of Clark last month. A week later Clark was at his front-running best to give regally-bred import Dajraan a group 3 win, when he was out of handicap in the Festival.
“Tim was already committed to Riodini after The Gong, so we had to find someone else for Dajraan. Rachel King will ride him,” Bott said. “It’s the race we have been focused on with Riodini this time, and Dajraan had to win his way into it, so they are both good chances.”
The Ingham looks to be a very strong race with Nugget, an impressive benchmark 88 winner at Kembla on Gong Day, the pre-post $4.50 favourite but no certainty of getting run given his rating of 94.
McDonald crowned world’s best jockey
Sydney champion jockey James McDonald added the title of World’s Best Jockey to his resume after a stellar 2022.
McDonald joined Hugh Bowman as an Australian winner of the title, beating second-placed Ryan Moore by 46 points. The points are awarded for wins and placings in the top 100 group 1 races in the world, and McDonald chalked up nine wins and scored in 15 races.
James McDonald forged a dominant partnership with Anamoe.Credit:Getty Images
While Verry Elleegant, Home Affairs, Nature Strip and Cascadian each contributed a win to McDonald’s wonderful year, it was Anamoe, whose wins in the Rosehill Guineas, Winx Stakes, George Main Stakes, Might And Power Stakes and the Cox Plate powered him to the title.
“You need that champion horse to win it – Hughie had Winx, and I had Anamoe this year,” McDonald said. “It’s a wonderful honour to win a title like this.”
McDonald heads to Hong Kong for International week on Monday, where the new term for the award starts with the Hong Kong International races.
“It would be good to kick off with a win or two. I have good rides and Romantic Warrior [the favourite for the Hong Kong International Cup] is very smart,” McDonald said.
Dunn closes Sydney stable and moves back to Murwillumbah
Frustration over a lack of boxes will see one of the country’s best emerging trainers, Matt Dunn, close his Rosehill stable this month and return his entire operation to the NSW’s North Coast at Murwillumbah.
Dunn started a Sydney stable 2½ years ago when based at Warwick Farm with 50 boxes, and continued his success from Murwillumbah. But since he moved to Rosehill with only 24 boxes, his Sydney operation has proved unviable.
“We thought the Rosehill move would work, but it simply hasn’t,” Dunn said. “We had 50 boxes on a short-term contract at Warwick Farm and it worked.
“You need numbers to make a stable work in Sydney and 24 boxes isn’t enough, especially when a lot of them are taken up by two-year-olds and horses you are getting ready to race.
“We tried to stick it out but in the end it’s a financial decision. I would love to come back to Sydney someday, but you need at least 50 boxes to make it work with the overheads of running a stable down here.”
The Australian Turf Club is faced with the problem of too few boxes to go around among trainers who want to train on their tracks. Mark Newnham, Michael Freedman and Ciaron Maher are among the high-profile names that would jump at the chance to snap up more boxes at Randwick and Warwick Farm respectively.
It will be interesting to see who takes over Dunn’s boxes, with the expanding Rosehill team of Richard and Will Freedman the obvious choice.
Betting for The Championships opens
Those punters looking to bet early for next autumn will get their first look at the markets when the TAB opens betting for The Championships and the All Star Mile on Monday.
An exciting autumn is in store, with Nature Strip and In Secret sharing TJ Smith favouritism at $6 and The Everest winner Giga Kick at $8. Aft Cabin and Golden Eagle winner I Wish I Win top the Doncaster market at $11, while White Marlin will open as an $8 Sydney Cup favourite.
The All Star Mile, which will be run at Moonee Valley next week, has Cox Plate winner Anamoe sharing the top of the market with I’m Thunderstuck at $6, followed by Zaaki and Alligator Blood at $8. The TAB opened Magic Millions Classic betting on Sunday with Breeder’s Plate winner Empire of Japan the $8 favourite.
Schiller makes a winning donation
Champion apprentice Tyler Schiller only has five wins left with his claim after winning on Ruby Tuesday at Rosehill on Saturday, but the success showed the young man’s class off the track as well as on it.
Ruby Tuesday races in silks emblazoned with the pink ribbon for breast cancer with her owners giving 10 percent of her earnings to the Breast Cancer Foundation.
After Schiller brought her with a well-timed winning charge at Rosehill on Saturday, he posted on social media a donation of his own of $350, which was 10 percent of his winning percentage.
“Of course, I will be giving 10 percent,” Schiller said walking back to the jockey’s room. “It was a good win and a good case.”
