New Zealand jockey sensation James McDonald celebrated his first winnerin the UK at only his second ride
New Zealand jockey sensation James McDonald celebrated his first winner in the UK at only his second ride when guiding Cable Bay home at Leicester overnight. McDonald has settled in Sydney for the last year after taking his homeland by storm when riding more than 200 winners from just 896 rides in the 2010-11 season. The 21-year-old has already won 13 Group One races and is spending the summer at Charlie Hills' stable for more experience. He repaid the Lambourn yard with victory on Cable Bay (7-1) in the Pytchley Maiden Stakes. Cable Bay had shaped well on his Nottingham debut and stayed on strongly in the final furlong to score by three-quarters from Whaleweigh Station, with Hatha Hooh another nose away in third. McDonald said: "He is a really nice horse and is probably going somewhere in the future. He was a bit green today, but got away with it. I'm grateful to my sponsor for bringing me over and to Charlie Hills for this opportunity. A change is just as good as a holiday so I came up here. It's great to ride for a specialist stable and I grabbed it with both hands. I've got a return ticket home in July so I'll go home then and get ready for the spring and hopefully win a Melbourne Cup." (www.attheraces.com)