Michael Rodd produced one of the rides of the Brisbane winter carnival to land Solzhenitsyn a consolation winner at Doomben on Saturday. Solzhenitsyn was being set for the Group One Doomben Cup (2000m) on Saturday but trainer Robert Heathcote missed the nominations. The gelding was then entered for the Group [...]
Michael Rodd doesn’t doubt Villa Verde’s class but admits he does have a query over the filly at the Sires’ Produce Stakes distance. Villa Verde came to Sydney as a leading Golden Slipper contender but has been no match for Overreach in her two autumn starts. The filly finished seventh [...]
Shaun Dwyer woke up on Saturday morning unaware he needed a new jockey for star filly Villa Verde. A quick glance at his mobile phone soon changed that. The unbeaten Villa Verde has made a big impression as evidenced by the number of messages Dwyer received from some of the [...]
The disappointment of missing out on a key ride through suspension was still fresh for jockey Michael Rodd after winning a race at Bendigo on Saturday. Rodd was suspended for 14 meetings on Friday night for careless riding in the Alister Clark Stakes and will miss the Reisling Stakes ride [...]
Michael Rodd heads to Sydney next week for the autumn return of highly-rated Villa Verde, confident the two-year-old is the right sort of horse to win the Golden Slipper. Rodd put the unbeaten Villa Verde through her paces in a 1000m jumpout at Bendigo on Wednesday and left in the [...]
The youngest horses in the race have fought out the Australian Cup with Super Cool beating Fiveandahalfstar in the $1 million Flemington feature. In an all three-year-old finish at the top end of the placings of the Group One race, Super Cool wore down his rival to win by a [...]
Two years after almost winning the Australia Stakes, rejuvenated sprinter Undeniably is back to go one better at Moonee Valley on Friday night. A bout of travel sickness a few months after the 2011 edition of the Group Two sprint put Undeniably’s career in doubt. But after a couple of [...]
Not a lot went right for Khalifa at Caulfield on Saturday – which made his win in a heat of the Summer Championship all the more impressive. Khalifa jumped awkwardly, raced outside the leader and was put under full pressure before jockey Michael Rodd would have liked. But he still [...]
Michael Rodd revealed how weights worked in his favour after classy sprinter Catapulted made a one-act affair of Saturday’s Doveton Stakes. Trainer Mark Kavanagh prepared the quinella in the Listed 1000m sprint at Caulfield with Rodd only taking the ride on Catapulted when stablemate Undeniably, who had 54kg, didn’t get [...]
What the jockeys said after the running of the Group One $6 million Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday. BRETT PREBBLE (Green Moon) 1st – “It’s a lifelong dream. I was very confident at the mile, then at the 1200 (metres) I thought the only thing that could get him [...]