Grand Slam-winning jockey Damien Oliver says he’s happy to continue commuting between Melbourne and Sydney and will play it by ear as to where he’ll do most of his riding as the spring carnivals loom large.
Oliver has been a frequent visitor to Sydney in recent weeks after being approached by premier trainer Chris Waller to ride a number of his stable’s horses at various Saturday and midweek meetings while some of Sydney’s top hoops have been out of action.
Oliver notched another winner for Waller at Rosehill on Saturday when he guided Mikiyama to a narrow victory in the Congratulations Cadel Evans Handicap (2400m).
“At the moment I’m happy commuting, coming back and forth,” Oliver said.
“A lot of the topweights in Melbourne are ridden by claiming apprentices and when you can’t ride the minimum there are not many rides in the middle of the weight scale. So for jockeys that can’t ride the minimum (53kg) it’s difficult.
“I’m happy to keep coming up while I’m getting good rides.”
With the spring carnivals fast approaching and feature races to be run in Sydney and Melbourne on the same days in coming weeks, Oliver said he would wait and see what transpires as to where he might be riding.
“I’ll play it by ear, if the opportunities are better up here in the early parts of the spring I might still come up here. I’ll just take each week as it comes.”
AAP TURF
