It’s been a serendipitous partnership between jockey Kathy O’Hara and emerging talent Rediener and she hopes their run of success continues in Saturday’s Group 1 $5m King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick.
Kathy O’Hara (Pic: Steve Hart)
Rediener handed O’Hara her third career Group 1 win when they claimed the TAB Epsom last month on the back of winning the Group 3 Bill Ritchie a couple of weeks earlier.
The four-year-old is one of five runners from the Chris Waller stable tackling the Everest Day weight-for-age feature and she’s more than happy to be along for the ride.
“He’s come at a good time, I’m the lucky recipient,’’ O’Hara said.
“He’s a very unassuming horse, to look at he’s just a run of the mill thoroughbred and just ticks along in his trackwork.
“He goes about his business and is competitive when it matters.”
A strong performance in the King Charles would put Rediener in line for a huge bonus having won the first leg of the Emerald Mile series which takes in the Epsom and Saturday’s race.
As the Epsom winner he’s accumulated five points and leads the tally over stablemate Kovalica (4) while Golden Mile (3) and Democracy Manifest (1) also have points toward the bonus.
To be eligible you must run in both races so a few other horses can still earn a slice of the prize, with $1 million to the winner of the series and bonuses paid to the top four point scorers.
O’Hara concedes Rediener, $41 with TAB on Thursday, does have a job ahead to continue his rise after carrying just 50kg in the Epsom but says it’s a logical step for him and barrier one will help.
“He’s not well suited at the weight scale compared to the handicap in the Epsom but he’s jumped every bar that’s been put in front of him this preparation,’’ she said.
“You can’t doubt him too much. I don’t know if I’ve ever ridden a horse that’s drawn three consecutively good gates in good races so it’s a pleasant surprise.
“It’s the next step for him, it’s sink or swim. You find out how good he is against the topline horses.”
Queanbeyan trainer Nick Olive’s Kimberley Secrets is also an outsider in the $2m The Kosciuszko (1200m) but O’Hara warns the mare could surprise having also drawn ideally in barrier one.
The South East Country Championships winner ran sixth in the Final back in April but pleased the jockey with her first-up third in a Benchmark 78 at Rosehill three weeks ago.
“I thought her first-up run was really good, she’s a stronger mare this preparation,’’ she said.
“I rode her last time in and she’s definitely furnished a bit.
“Hopefully she can be in the first five or six there. At 1100m the other day they were a little bit sharp for her but she found the line really well.
“The fact Nick said she’s improved from that and 1200m at Randwick is a different kettle of fish that’s going to suit her better.”
O’Hara and Olive have a long association and prior to Rediener’s Epsom her previous Group 1 win was on Olive’s former star Single Gaze in the 2016 Vinery Stud Stakes.
Single Gaze and Kimberley Secrets share some of the same owners so a Kosciuszko win would be special for O’Hara.
– Racing NSW
