Racing: Rider relishes return to top chances

Riding fancied runners is not something that Leith Innes has been accustomed to lately, but that will all change when he resumes his New Zealand career at Hawera tomorrow.

Last season's champion jockey, fresh from a four-month Hong Kong Jockey Club contract, has his first New Zealand race ride for nearly five months on Dont Ya Lovett, $4 fixed-odds favourite for the $50,000 Waikato Stud Opunake Cup.

His only other Hawera engagement is Slumber, current second favourite for the 3-year-old event, the Bernie Fleming Memorial.

"Too right, it's going to be good for a change to be on something with a chance," he said.

"The whole time I was in Hong Kong I think I rode only two favourites. One of them won and the other one ran second."

That comment about sums up why Innes ended his Hong Kong stint with just two wins and 20 minor placings from nearly 100 mounts, but there's no hint of bitterness or disappointment.

"If the breaks had gone my way I would have done a lot better, but it was still a brilliant experience and one that I'd love to have a chance at again."

For now Innes has his sights set on re-establishing old contacts and getting into the frame for new season feature racing.

His two Hawera mounts are from the stables of Allan Sharrock and Murray Baker, major contributors to the 88 wins Innes registered in the first two-thirds of this season before heading to Hong Kong.

He may have slipped to sixth place on the local premiership, but he still holds the current season title of best leader-board strike-rate (5.17), most black-type wins (14) and highest stakes ($1,964,876).

If Dont Ya Lovett and Slumber perform up to their rankings in the early betting for their respective races, they will earn sufficient stakes to take their jockey past the seldom achieved $2 million mark.

Dont Ya Lovett has earned his place at the top of the Opunake Cup market with a last-start return to winning form at Otaki late last month.

The Lord Ballina gelding, who Sharrock races in partnership with Aucklanders Butch Glover and Bob Lovett, has been ridden once before by Innes for a win at New Plymouth some 14 months ago.

With 53.5kg Dont Ya Lovett has a handy advantage over the likes of topweight Zvezda (59kg), Irish Rover (58.5kg) and stablemate Go Thenaki (57kg).

Second favourite Irish Rover has been allotted two kilos less than he carried to victory in last year's Opunake Cup and tomorrow will be trying for an amazing fourth straight victory in the 1400 metre feature.