A year to the day since his much-publicised run in with chief steward Terry Bailey, Danny Nikolic was in the limelight as the rider of versatile filly Mosheen, the runaway winner of the Group One VRC Oaks.
The talented jockey, 37, who was once the number one rider for owner Lloyd Williams and has ridden successfully overseas, has certainly had his ups and downs in the past year or two off the track.
He has had a marriage break-up, was embroiled in an inquiry for several months which led to a two-month suspension and a $10,000 fine in November last year, innuendo about the murder of his father-in-law Les Samba and has charges pending for alleged assault.
“I don’t want to look back on the past. I just want to look to the future and try to get going again in these big races,” Nikolic said after Mosheen destroyed her rivals in the 2500m Classic, leading all the way to score by nine lengths.
The jockey, who won a Caulfield Cup and a Singapore Gold Cup aboard Mummify, hadn’t won the VRC Oaks (2500m) before but had twice finished second.
“I’m rapt. It’s the only decent horse I’ve ridden all spring,” he said.
Nikolic said managing owner Phil Sly and trainer Robert Smerdon had been very loyal to him, sticking by him through thick and thin.
He has ridden the daughter of Fastnet Rock in all but one of her nine starts which was her sixth in the Myer Classic last Saturday when he could not make the weight (49kg).
Craig Williams filled in for Nikolic on that occasion.
“Phil (Sly) has been a great supporter of mine. I’ve got first call on all the horses he’s got a share in and I love to repay him,” Nikolic said.
“I had a feeling Robert (Smerdon) would stick by me. I rode her in the autumn and she was the class horse in the autumn bar one or two horses.
“She has come back as a really nice, strong, good-eating filly.
“Three-year-olds in the spring, it’s not a genuine guide to see if they are stayers but today that was really a walk, trot and canter.
“She has been an underrated filly since the day I started riding her, she’s run second to two of the best horses we’ve got going around in Sepoy and Atlantic Jewel and today she just played with them.
“There was no way they could beat her from the 600 metres as they had gone too slow.
“I know what sort of turn of foot she had and she hadn’t spent any petrol.”
AAP TURF
