Weight's right for part-time waiter on cup hope
Mature-aged apprentice Reece Jones works tables at a restaurant by night but could become the toast of Coonamble if he can get Red Knot home in the cup on Sunday.
Jones has only had 22 rides for a couple of winners and was given the opportunity on Red Knot by his boss Rod Northam after finishing third at Dubbo last time out.
“The owners were really happy with the ride and there is a big advantage using his four-kilo claim,” Northam said. "He rode him really well and was a little unlucky not to win.
“He is 22 and is a really hard worker, which will hold him in good stead as a jockey. He works at night and is there every morning.
“He has got his share of talent as well and, like all young riders, he just needs that breakthrough win, which will get him going. This could be the horse to do it for him.”
Red Knot has been on the cups trail in the central west, running third in the Cattlemen’s Cup at Warren before being a couple of lengths away in the Narromine Cup and Dubbo Cup.
“He is an honest bugger and gives his best,” Northam said. “The weight relief gives him the chance to win a nice race.
"You know what you will get from him, and it is a case of whether that will be good enough."
Northam is also preparing for Saturday’s Kosciuszko with After All That, which was fourth in The Shorts last start.
“I had been talking to the blokes with the slot before that and had agreed to 50-50, but after the race another couple came in at 60-40, so I gave them the chance to match it and they did," Northam said.
Meanwhile, Canberra chief executive Peter Stubbs retired after the Tony Campbell Cup day on Friday.
The 66-year-old has spent more than 50 years in racing and last dozen as the boss at Canberra and as a member of the Australian Racing Board.
He has overseen unprecedented growth in racing in the nation’s capital, including building the Acton track.
"As a racing administrator, some of the things important to you are not necessarily important to the wider public, but probably the most outstanding [achievement] was the development of the Acton track,” Stubbs said.
"Manufacturing our own surface, which we are certainly the only Australian club to have done, and I suspect in the world, allowed us good racing year-round."
Race diary
Monday: Leeton, Tamworth. Tuesday: Goulburn. Friday: Cessnock, Grafton. Saturday: Albury, Forbes, Gulargambone, Wauchope.
Most Viewed in Sport
Please explain
A weekly podcast giving you insight into the stories that drive the nation.
Listen now