It is a matter of when and not if James McDonald makes a move to Sydney but a starring role on Doncaster Day hasn’t altered the jockey’s immediate plans.
McDonald had a weekend to remember with four winners at Randwick on Saturday, including the Group One Galaxy, before taking out the $250,000 Gosford Guineas on Sunday.
The 20-year-old premier New Zealand rider has regularly been asked if he will move to Sydney but maintains he’s in no rush and will wait until after the Brisbane winter carnival before considering his future.
McDonald has Group One rides on Hanks in the Sydney Cup and Dear Demi in the Champagne Stakes on Saturday at Randwick and will remain in Sydney for the next four weeks until after the two-day Scone Cup carnival.
“After that I’ll head up to Brisbane. I’ve got some really nice rides for the three-year-old races up there,” McDonald said.
“I will (move to Sydney) one day, I just don’t know when.
“I’ll head home after the winter carnival, go for a little bit of a break and come back fresh.
“I might come back for the spring but I’m not too sure what the plan is yet.
“Winter is coming up. I haven’t had a break for a while and I just want to reflect on everything then.”
McDonald said Sydney would be his preferred Australian base.
“I love Sydney,” he said.
“Out of Australia this is the place I would want to be, without a doubt, but it’s hard just to adapt straight away because I’m used to living on a farm (in New Zealand).”
McDonald could hardly believe it when he notched his first Sydney Group One on Temple Of Boom in Saturday’s Galaxy which brought up his fourth winner for the day.
The Galaxy victory was McDonald’s sixth at Group One level in 2012 with five at home including the New Zealand Derby on Silent Achiever.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said of his Galaxy win.
“On Doncaster Day you go there just hoping to maybe get one winner, let alone four.”
The softly-spoken jockey has earned plenty of praise in his short career and Randwick trainer John O’Shea has been influential in giving McDonald opportunities in Sydney in the past 12 months.
“We’ve never twisted his arm,” O’Shea said after McDonald won on Lightinthenite for his stable on Saturday.
“We’ve always let him have his head and when he felt the time was right I’m sure he’ll make a decision. He knows that whenever the opportunity presents itself we’ve got rides here for him.
“He’ll stay with us now through until Scone and then probably head up to Brisbane with our team.
“I think the last thing we want to do is put pressure on him because obviously he’s a wonderful talent.”
McDonald will ride the O’Shea-trained Iggi Pop in Saturday’s Group Three Frank Packer Plate.
