McDonald’s premiership lead in doubt after suspension
JAMES McDonald could be asked to stay in the United Kingdom for another month which will negatively affect his New South Wales jockeys’ premiership hopes.
McDonald is currently riding for Godolphin trainer’s Charlie Appleby and Charles Hillis in the UK, and was expected to return to Australia after the July Cup, but a one-month suspension handed down to fellow Godolphin rider William Buick could see McDonald’s stay extended by a month.
Buick picked up a 15-day suspension for causing a fall in the Prix de Diane in France, but the suspension was doubled due to his offensive behaviour towards officials.
McDonald is hoping to stay for another month which would give him some valuable experience riding in top-quality summer races.
“We’ll find out what the verdict is tomorrow [Thursday],” McDonald said. “Whether he gets off or not [will decide] if I stay here for the next month or not.
“All going well I hopefully will stay here for the next month if Buick doesn’t get off the suspension.
“The original plan was to come back after the July Cup but I’d love to stay here a bit longer.
“Obviously if he’s out of the equation I’ll probably end up getting on a lot better quality horses in better quality fields so it would be a good experience.”
McDonald will be looking to ride on Irish Oaks day and also the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes meeting at Royal Ascot. He notched his first UK feature win aboard the Charlie Appleby-trained Antiquarium in the Northumberland Plate and it could now head to the Melbourne spring carnival.
“He’s likely to run in about three weeks time at Goodwood and that will tell us a lot more but I definitely think it’s [Melbourne campaign] in the pipeline,” McDonald said.
“The way he won that handicap up at Newcastle, he’s definitely worth a chance to bring him down if he’s well weighted.”
If McDonald is to stay in the UK for another month, his jockeys’ premiership title could come under threat from Hugh Bowman.
McDonald is currently on 89.5 wins with Bowman trailing by 25.5 wins, but plenty can change in a month and Bowman will do his best to close the gap.