Reigning premier Melbourne rider Damien Oliver is ready to step it up a notch early in the new season, reports Racing Network.
This Saturday at Caulfield he will partner outstanding staying mare Silent Achiever in the Group 1 $400,000 Memsie Stakes (1400m) while regular rider Nash Rawiller is riding under contract in Japan.
Silent Achiever has been galloping and trialling well in New Zealand for trainer Roger James and she hasn’t raced since running fourth in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).
Before that she won the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes and Group 1 The BMW.
“I’ll be riding Commanding Jewel and Awesome Rock for Leon and Troy Corstens as well,” Oliver told Racing Network on Monday morning.
Oliver has elected to ride Awesome Rock ahead of the Mick Price-trained Jabali, which he rode first up in the Vain Stakes two weeks ago.
Jabali, the Blue Diamond Stakes runner-up in the autumn, raced flat and to the eye was a little disappointing.
Commanding Jewel hasn’t raced for almost a year as she hasn’t been seen on a racetrack since winning the Group 2 $200,000 Let’s Elope Stakes (1400m) at Flemington last September.
She has been trialling brilliantly over the past month and will resume in the Group 3 $150,000 Cockram Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.