Apprentice Katelyn Mallyon reached a career milestone when she reduced her city claim with her second ever city double at Caulfield.
Mallyon won the first two races on the card including the Dr Michael Irlicht Handicap (1000m) on old favourite Galbraith who was also part of her first city double at Moonee Valley on November 19.
The quietly-spoken 18-year-old had her 3kg claim reduced to 2kg after she also landed the opening race, the Monjon Security Handicap (1800m), on Placement who she has now partnered to three city wins.
All up, Mallyon has ridden 88 winners in her career and no longer claims on country and provincial tracks.
Galbraith’s trainer Peter Healey said Mallyon had been a big part of extending the career of the nine-year-old who is owned by George Tong, best known as the owner of 1978 English Derby winner Shirley Heights who was the first horse he ever bought.
“He (Tong) loves his horses and six months ago he just thought he (Galbraith) had had enough and wanted to retire him,” Healey said.
Tong took a little convincing but allowed Galbraith to race on when Mallyon booted him home in a photo finish from Rocking Force and General Truce.
On Saturday Mallyon pushed him out to get past General Truce and win by a length while Broken finished third.
“Keeping him fresh is the key and a bit of give in the ground helps as well,” Healey said.
“I also think he appreciates a kind rider like Katelyn.
“She is gentle with him and responds to that.”
Healey said Galbraith would now be freshened for the third heat of the All Victorian Sprint Series (1000m) but was unsure how many more runs he would have despite having raced only 30 times for eight wins.
“He’s a fantastic horse for us but he can’t go forever,” Healey said.
Placement’s trainer Danny O’Brien said Mallyon had a knack of getting the best out of the Savabeel mare.
“She just seems to go well for Katelyn,” O’Brien said.
“I’ve been using her for six months and she hasn’t made any mistakes.”
However riding honours for the day went to Nicholas Hall who landed a treble, winning the last three races on Mike Moroney-trained stablemates Zabisco ($6) and favourite Bonnie Mac ($2.80) as well as Darren Weir-trained The Night’s Hot ($5).
