Star New Zealand apprentice James McDonald will get a good look at the Flemington track ahead of the spring carnival when he takes part in the Asian Young Guns Challenge on Saturday.And the 19-year-old says he will eventually make the move to base himself permanently in either Melbourne or Sydney."I'm not too sure which one yet," McDonald, who is indentured to his father Brett McDonald, said."I've still got a few commitments back in New Zealand to fulfil but in the next month I'll be making trip
Star New Zealand apprentice James McDonald will get a good look at the Flemington track ahead of the spring carnival when he takes part in the Asian Young Guns Challenge on Saturday.
And the 19-year-old says he will eventually make the move to base himself permanently in either Melbourne or Sydney.
"I'm not too sure which one yet," McDonald, who is indentured to his father Brett McDonald, said.
"I've still got a few commitments back in New Zealand to fulfil but in the next month I'll be making trips across with a few Kiwi horses and hopefully I'll move.
"I'm not too sure when, it's still up in the air but maybe soon.
"I've had some very good feedback from some of the trainers and I should get a good opportunity to ride a few winners over the carnival hopefully in Melbourne and in Sydney."
One leading Melbourne trainer known to be a big fan of McDonald is Mike Moroney.
McDonald has created a huge impression with 569 wins in New Zealand alone in four years of riding.
The dual NZ jockeys' premiership winner has had five Group One victories including Scarlett Lady in the Queensland Oaks.
In the season just completed, he became the first rider to win 200 races in a New Zealand season.
He has ridden a double at Randwick as well as winners in Singapore and Ireland.
McDonald said the highlight of his career so far was his association with the Graeme and Debbie Rogerson-trained Scarlett Lady who he will ride in Melbourne in the spring.
"By all accounts she's come back really good and she looks to have a very bright spring campaign ahead of her in Melbourne," McDonald said of Scarlett Lady who is high up in betting in both the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate.
"It would be nice to get a bit of luck on Saturday. I'm looking forward to having a look around the course and get a feel of the place.
"I've ridden here once before on Derby Day and it was one of the highlights of the year for me to ride on a big day like that.
"It was unbelievable with the atmosphere and the track here is just beautiful.
"It's probably one of the best courses you would ever ride on."
McDonald misses the first leg of the challenge which has only five runners but rides the David Hayes-trained Maraaseem in the second leg (1800m) and Commanding Hope in the third leg (1000m).
He has also picked up the rides on Queensland sprinter Temple Of Boom in the feature event of the day, the Group Three $150,000 Aurie's Star Hcp (1200m), and Pacino in the June Price and Anthony O'Donoghue Hcp (1410m).
Local apprentices Jordan Mallyon and Adam McCabe will compete against McDonald, Vincent Ho (Hong Kong), Ryo Takakura (Japan), Cash Wong (Macau), Rizuan Shafiq (Singapore) and Juan Paul Van Der Merwe (South Africa).
Japanese rider Kota Fujioka took out the inaugural challenge at Flemington in 2009, edging out Victoria's Nicholas Hall, while last year at Kranji in Singapore, Hong Kong's Derek Leung narrowly secured victory over Singapore's Mark Ewe on a countback.