Peter Snowden has thrown his support behind Kerrin McEvoy to ride Sepoy and Helmet in their Dubai assignments.
Sepoy and Helmet are set to compete on World Cup night on March 31 wearing the royal blue colours of Godolphin but under the care of their Australian trainer Snowden.
And Snowden said his recommendation to owner Sheikh Mohammed would be for McEvoy to be in the saddle even though Frankie Dettori is Godolphin’s number one rider.
“You can’t beat someone that knows the horse, rather than trying to tell someone five minutes before the race about them,” Snowden said.
“So it would be great to have Kerrin on board.”
McEvoy has ridden Sepoy to all four of his Group One victories in Australia and has been aboard Helmet for his three.
“Hopefully I’d like Kerrin to go with them because he knows these horses inside out but no doubt if the boss wants Frankie on, well we’ll go with that,” Snowden said.
“He (McEvoy) may be there but it hasn’t been spoken about yet.”
McEvoy is on a week-long family holiday while he serves a careless riding suspension but took to Twitter shortly after the announcement earlier this week that the two glamour colts would be competing in Dubai.
“Excellent news re.sepoy and helmet and their inclusion to the dubai world cup nite 2012. #iwaitinhope,” McEvoy tweeted.
Snowden said he had spoken to McEvoy before he left for his holiday.
“He said he hasn’t been contacted yet but hopefully the call comes in the next few weeks just to let him know the boss wants him,” Snowden said.
“But that will be all worked out later on.”
Sepoy will run in the Group One Golden Shaheen (1200m) which has been added to the Global Sprint Challenge for 2012.
Helmet is being aimed at the UAE Derby (1900m) and will have two starts in Melbourne, most likely in the CS Hayes Stakes and Australian Guineas before departing.
McEvoy spent four seasons as Godolphin’s number two jockey in Europe before returning to Australia in 2008 to take up the position as stable rider for Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley operation.
Snowden said he wasn’t expecting the opportunity to get to train the two colts for the Dubai races.
“But I was thrilled to be asked, that’s for sure,” he said.
AAP TURF
