Kerrin McEvoy returns with quality Rosehill rides
Jockey Kerrin McEvoy returns from injury with two important rides at the Expressway Stakes meeting.
Kerrin McEvoy can’t ride Winx but he can help another of suspended jockey Hugh Bowman’s blue chip autumn mounts make a winning return at Rosehill.
McEvoy, ready to resume riding after an extended break because of injury, has confirmed his allegiance to Everest winner Redzel when the sprinter resumes in Melbourne in the Lightning Stakes.
On the same day, Winx is scheduled for her own comeback in the Apollo Stakes in Sydney.
Bowman is sitting out Saturday’s meeting as he prepares appeals against suspensions received in Australia and New Zealand last week.
If Bowman can’t score a reduction on the length of his bans, he misses the ride on Winx at Randwick on February 17.
McEvoy would have been a frontrunner to replace Bowman given trainer Chris Waller has entrusted him with the important ride on Performer when the Golden Slipper second favourite takes on four rivals in the Canonbury Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
The Rosehill meeting will cap a hectic 24 hours for McEvoy as he returns to riding after spending six weeks out because of a broken hand.
He will put several autumn carnival prospects through their paces in jump-outs at Flemington on Friday morning before easing his way back into proper competition with a limited book at Canterbury that evening.
His Rosehill book is stacked with three early favourites, including Global Glamour in the feature race, the Group Two Expressway Stakes.
“I rode some trackwork on Tuesday morning and the hand has come through fine and I’m looking forward to getting back in the saddle on Friday night,” McEvoy told radio station RSN.
“You are always a bit cautious through the first part but I was pretty pleased with how it felt (after trackwork) and how it has pulled up since.”
Global Glamour, winner of the Flight Stakes and Thousand Guineas at Group One level in 2016, heads an Expressway field top heavy with three-year-old talent.
She is one of only three older horses in the field of eight and bookmakers are ignoring her midfield placing at the Gold Coast on Magic Millions day when she was trapped deep from a wide barrier.
Of the three-year-old contingent, most early betting interest surrounds Addictive Nature, one of two runners for trainer Bjorn Baker.
Addictive Nature is pressing for favouritism after two recent barrier trial wins following an abbreviated spring that delivered a Group Three success and a Group Two placing against his own age.