Riva De Lago has been earmarked as a potential Group One horse and jockey Jay Ford is happy to be going along for the ride.
Ford has ridden the Con Karakatsanis-trained Riva De Lago to two impressive wins this campaign and is confident the emerging talent can continue his winning way when he steps up to 1500m at Rosehill on Saturday.
Karakatsanis has nominated the Group One Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) as a 2012 target for the gelding.
Ford, who for so long had champion sprinter Takeover Target to look forward to each carnival, admits Riva De Lago is an exciting horse in the making.
“He’s definitely one of the most exciting horses I’m riding at the moment,” Ford said.
“I’ve been going well but he’s the one that sticks out as a horse that can go on and win races better than just Saturday races, so he’s definitely one I want to stick with.
“I think he’s definitely up to stakes grade.”
Ford has only ridden Riva De Lago in his past three starts but has been doing plenty of work with the horse behind the scenes in trackwork.
“He’s always promised this sort of stuff,” Ford said.
“He’s always had the ability and at times hasn’t been bringing it to the races. It’s great to see him producing what we thought he could do.”
Riva De Lago, who was gelded before this preparation, is one of 21 nominations for Saturday’s race and has 54kg.
The gelding won a 1200m race at Randwick by four lengths first-up and then backed it up with another dominant display over 1350m at Rosehill.
“This is another stepping stone for him stepping up in trip,” Ford said.
“He worked nicely again this morning and I expect him to run a very good race again.”
Riva De Lago worked with stablemate My Destiny and Ford will also partner that galloper on Saturday.
My Destiny placed in the Listed Darby Munro (1200m) in March and bounced back to form with a third-up win on Melbourne Cup day at Randwick.
“He took a couple of runs to get fit and work himself back into form but everything seems to be heading in the right direction now,” Ford said.
AAP TURF
