McDonald
set a new record for Group 1 wins by an Australian jockey at Rosehill two weeks ago and heads to the second day of The Championships looking to ride a Group 1 winner for the seventh consecutive Saturday.
As unbelievable as that is, it looks almost a certainty as he has four serious winning chances in Group 1s today, including unbeaten mate Autumn Glow in the A$5 million ($6.04m) Queen Elizabeth Stakes and NZ Oaks winner Ohope Wins in the $1m ATC Oaks.
That suggests he should edge closer to Malcolm Johnston’s Australian record of 16 wins at the highest level, set in the 1979-80 season, with McDonald currently on 12 for this term with three and a half months of the season to go.
Ohope Wins is his most intriguing of his four Group 1 chances today, as she left New Zealand looking a superstar staying filly, yet could only run fourth behind Belle Cheval in the Vinery Stud Stakes two weeks ago.
“You will see a different filly this Saturday I think,” he told the Herald.
“She had a few things against her at Rosehill [in the Vinery].
‘She hadn’t raced for five weeks, the tempo was against her and she had to race handier than I really wanted to because of her draw and how we thought the race would pan out.”
McDonald says moving back up to 2400m for the Oaks today and on the roomier Randwick track, Ohope Wins should be able to relax and then unleash her slingshot sprint down the Randwick straight in an Oaks field with some staying depth but few rivals with anything like her outright class.
As talented as Ohope Wins may be, Autumn Glow will be the centre of attention at Randwick as she tries to remain unbeaten in 12 starts, stepping up to 2000m in Sydney’s biggest weight-for-age middle-distance race.
“She races like it shouldn’t be a problem but she still has to go out there and win it,” says McDonald of his equine sweetheart.
“Her stride length and strength suggest she will be fine but it is a bit like a really good 800m runner stepping up to 1500m.
“But she is in great order and it should be a wonderful race.”
McDonald also rides Lady Shenandoah (R8, No 2) against Treasurethe Moment and cult mare Pride Of Jenni in what could be a thrilling A$1m Queen Of The Turf, on a card that also includes the Sydney Cup and with Everest runner-up Tempted a hot favourite in the A$1m Arrowfield Stakes.
Randwick will gobble up much of the attention of Kiwi punters today, especially with no thoroughbred meeting in the north of the North Island, with racing officials monitoring the path of Cyclone Vaianu and how that could affect Sunday’s Te Rapa meeting.
There is some quality racing at Ōtaki today with the $120,000 Hawke’s Bay Cup and a strong open sprint at listed level, but the bigger domestic meeting is at Riccarton.
It hosts the $350,000 Southern Alps Challenge, restricted to South Island-trained horses racing for prizemoney they rarely get to compete for, along with the $80,000 Welcome Stakes and $80,000 NZB Insurance Stakes.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
