Surely four Royal Randwick winners and a nostril defeat confirm there is no better sportsperson in Australia currently than James McDonald.
Once jockeys in the McDonald category — like Darby Munro, George Moore and Billy Cook — were hailed like the champion cricketers, footballers and tennis greats.
Maybe racing now, being more of an industry, jockeys are in a sphere of their own, emphasised by the danger of riding thoroughbreds most days of the week.
Randwick on Saturday was given a “lacklustre” tag and had a similar attendance but was lit up by J-Mac and a couple of highly promising sprinters.
J-Mac is anything but a hometown champion and his expertise is evident on the world stage. Consider Royal Ascot and Hong Kong. Watching him live in action makes going to a meeting worthwhile.
Of course, when jockeys get to an elite level, quality mounts and leading stable support play a role. However, on Saturday the Kiwi was at his best on Dr Evil in the Midway for John Steinmetz and Cameron Crockett’s Super Extreme (Highway).
James McDonald scores on the highly-fancied Aft Cabin at Randwick on Saturday.Credit:Getty
Many figure he should have had five successes, considering his protest on behalf of Sacrimony, beaten an eyelash by Munitions in the Petaluma in a bumping transit down the straight. J-Mac and apprentice Dylan Gibbons rode hell for leather. I reckon Sacrimony coped the worst of it. Still stewards could not be “comfortably satisfied” the result should be changed. It was a close call. The way Gibbons handled himself in the gruelling contest was another pointer to the high saddle standard in Sydney at present.
Alas, two of J-Mac’s fancied mounts Cosmic Minerva (Securities) and Soulcombe (Drinkwise) needed a tow truck more than a jockey while another Kettle Hill (TAB) was stuck in a pocket, a navigational hiccup.
Soulcombe, a recent Melbourne Cup favourite, fell out of the gates like a bag of spuds, not surprisingly but later disappointed pulling up 2/5 lame. Obviously the import needs a longer journey and more acclimatisation as did Chalk Stream before Chris Waller waved his magic wand over him for King Charles.
J-Mac had a more comfortable passage on Aft Cabin in the Eskimo Prince, outclassing the other three-year-olds. Potentially they are only average with the possible exception of Osipenko, ridden by Nash Rawiller who described the run as a “complete disaster”.
Aft Cabin had scope for improvement but was more forward in condition than stablemate Golden Mile, another promising Godolphin three-year-old, beaten at Rosehill the previous Saturday.
Perhaps the run of the Randwick program was produced by Remarque who looked every inch a major Oakleigh Plate contender taking the Yarraman Park under Tim Clark. He is another rival who adds merit to the domination of J-Mac, tipped as a kid in New Zealand to be outstanding by trainer John O’Shea. Did O’Shea ever think he would reach his present pitch?
“I’ve always told him he would be outstanding but to be great he had to have a good home life and Katelyn (Mallyon) has produced it,” he answered.
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