Melbourne champion jockey Damien Oliver’s recently-incurred 11-meeting suspension has opened the door to fellow Australian but Kranji-based jockey Michael Rodd next weekend.
Oliver was rubbed out at a Seymour on Wednesday for two careless riding charges, meaning he would miss out on the first Group 1 meeting of the Spring Carnival, the Memsie Stakes day at Caulfield.
Rodd was given the nod to fill in for Oliver for Vezalay, a last-start winner for Leon and Troy Corstens at Caulfield last Saturday, mainly thanks to his existing strong ties with one of the owners Brad Spicer.
“Brad is the one who got me the ride. I rode a lot for him and the syndication,” said Rodd.
“They hold a share in Commanding Jewel, who won two (Group 2) Let’s Elope Stakes and Vezalay is a very nice filly they now have. She’s a good first-up type.”
Besides Vezalay, who is a confirmed booking, Rodd is also in the mix for a few other pick-up rides from Oliver’s ban, namely Fawkner in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) itself and Rich Enuff, with whom Rodd enjoyed a prolific association with last year with three ‘Black Type’ wins in a row. The Ken Keys-trained chestnut is due to kick off his Spring Carnival campaign in the Group 3 $150,000 The Heath (1100m) on the same day.
The pair last combined when unplaced on November 1 last year in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m), the same race that Super One is being aimed at this year.
“Both Rich Enuff and Fawkner are not confirmed yet. I will know fairly soon,” said Rodd who won his biggest race for Fawkner’s owner Lloyd Williams with Efficient in 2007.
“Lloyd and I have had a lot of success before and it would be nice to ride for him again. Fawkner is in the Memsie, a weight-for-age race over 1400m that I won two years ago with Atlantic Jewel fresh-up when she just cantered in.
“Ollie trialled Rich Enuff two weeks ago at Cranbourne and apparently he went super. It’d be great if I get to ride him again.”
Rodd, a heavyweight jockey who sometimes misses out on rides at Kranji because of the lower weight scale here, said he had thought twice about flying back home for the odd hit-and-run visit, but said some plum rides were just too good to knock back, especially during Australian racing’s most coveted time.
“The Spring Carnival is where the best of the best race. It’s not easy to travel in and out for just the one ride, but I had to put my hand up for these ones,” said Rodd, a New South Wales boy who moved from Brisbane to Melbourne before moving to Singapore.
– Singapore Turf Club
