Star jockey James McDonald has traveled down from Sydney and completed his five days of quarantine, and is ready to get stuck into a strong book of rides across the Cox Plate Carnival at Moonee Valley.
The book is headlined by his ride on Kolding in the 2020 Cox Plate (2040m), a horse that he has described as ‘airborne’, while speaking to RSN.
“The horse is airborne, he’s deadset flying, I wouldn’t read into too much about his Melbourne form vs his Sydney form, he’s just a very good horse on his day”, McDonald said.
Watch: Kolding take out the Group 2 Hill Stakes last start.
4 from 4 for @mcacajamez with Kolding taking out the Quincy Seltzer Hill Stakes pic.twitter.com/g1YE7dxKHZ
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) October 3, 2020
McDonald is on another highly rated runner for the Waller camp, teaming up with Shared Ambition in the Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup.
“He’s going terrific, he’s had a bit of a stop start sort of campaign, his first start was a bit of a backfire for them, he just got caught wide, he pulled quite hard and they were trying to get him to settle.
“Chris [Waller] hit the nail on the head, they hold him in really high regard … they thought he would be running last week in the Caulfield Cup so this is a bit of a drop down in class and hopefully he gets the chance to recapture his good form.”
Watch: Shared Ambition just miss in the Kingston Town Stakes two starts ago.
Taikomochi takes out the Kingston Town Stakes for @GaiWaterhouse1-Bott ? pic.twitter.com/HtOagx1kzc
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 19, 2020
McDonald also spoke on Chris Waller’s imported galloper Olmedo who lines up in the Crystal Mile on Saturday, and Godolphin’s unlucky sprinter Lyre who is seeking a return to the winners list in Friday’s Manikato Stakes.
On Olmedo:
“He’s trialed reasonably well, we look forward to seeing him at the races and seeing what he can do under race pressure, he’s more than capable being a Group 1 winner in France, and if he can recapture that form he should be a very good chance.”
On Lyre:
“Looking forward to riding her, she’s obviously got a good barrier and a little bit of rain won’t hurt her chances, and obviously the speed on… so she should get every chance to find the line… hopefully tonight’s her night.”
