HE IS the hottest teenage rider on the planet after a remarkable 12 months of smashing records in New Zealand, and now James McDonald has his sights on Melbourne's feature cups double, reports The Age (www.theage.com.au). It says: The 19-year-old, who is at the centre of a tug-of-war between a number of leading Melbourne and Sydney stables, is in Melbourne for tomorrow's Asian Young Guns series at Flemington. In three months, he will be back there for the Melbourne Cup aboard Queensland Oaks win
HE IS the hottest teenage rider on the planet after a remarkable 12 months of smashing records in New Zealand, and now James McDonald has his sights on Melbourne's feature cups double, reports The Age (www.theage.com.au).
It says: The 19-year-old, who is at the centre of a tug-of-war between a number of leading Melbourne and Sydney stables, is in Melbourne for tomorrow's Asian Young Guns series at Flemington. In three months, he will be back there for the Melbourne Cup aboard Queensland Oaks winner Scarlett Lady. ''It's my first chance to win the Caulfield and Melbourne cups and chances on horses like her won't come along too often,'' he said. ''I'm really excited about riding over here and riding such a good horse like Scarlett Lady. She's just one of those horses that will stay all day.''
Backed by Peter Vela, one of New Zealand's biggest owners, McDonald set a New Zealand record of 207 winners last season and while that total is impressive - he is the first Kiwi to break 200 winners in a season - his strike-rate of rides to winners is staggering. Last season, he won a race every 4.46 rides. In comparison, Victoria's leading rider, Dean Yendall, rode 150.5 winners at a rate of one win in seven rides. Even metropolitan jockeys' premiership winner Luke Nolen's 112 season wins in Victoria came at slightly better than one in six.