Ben Melham lines up for his third Group One win in three weeks at Morphettville on Saturday confident he and the horse he’s riding are in the same sparkling form.
Melham rides Platelet in South Australia’s premier sprint, the Goodwood (1200m), having partnered the mare to victory in the Group One Robert Sangster Stakes two weeks ago and Escado in the Group One SA Derby last Saturday.
“I’m having a great run, the confidence is there, the results are good and I’m getting on some good horses,” Melham said.
Platelet is one of the better ones he’s been aboard having missed a place only twice in 18 starts and providing her connections with a cheque every time she’s been to the races.
Her success in the Sangster was her third at stakes level and took her racetrack earnings beyond $600,000.
“She’s been a fantastic mare all her life,” Melham said.
“But she’s probably in her best form ever, she’s really come into her own this time in.”
If she is successful, Platelet would give Melham his fifth Group One win, following an earlier SA Derby win and having had the honour of picking up a Group One winning ride on Black Caviar when Luke Nolen was suspended.
Platelet shapes as the value runner in the Goodwood at $13 behind Moment Of Change who is at $1.90.
In Saturday’s other Morphettville feature, the Victorian galloper Linton is primed to break through the million-dollar mark in the Group Three RA Lee Stakes.
“I just couldn’t imagine a race where he could be more attractively weighted than this one,” trainer John Sadler said.
Linton won the Lee Stakes last year in his first start for Sadler and comes into Saturday’s race with only 2kg above the minimum.
