It has been a case of swings and roundabouts for apprentice Sam Clipperton who has picked up the Villiers Stakes mount on Tindal.
Clipperton won the Listed Festival Stakes earlier this month aboard Monton for his boss Ron Quinton but was overlooked for the Villiers ride in favour of senior hoop Hugh Bowman.
The master and apprentice will now be in opposition corners for Saturday’s 1600m feature at Warwick Farm where Clipperton will chase his first Group win on the Wendy Roche-trained Tindal.
Roche is more than happy to have the young rider on board despite the fact he cannot use his claim.
“He is a lightweight and horses run for him,” Roche said.
“The horse is an easy ride and I think Sam will handle the situation well.”
A former Lloyd Williams galloper, Tindal is in his second campaign for Roche and will tackle the Villiers at his third run from a spell.
He has finished out of the placings at his past two starts, the latest a 10th to My Destiny over 1300m at Rosehill.
However, Roche says Tindal has needed racing and will appreciate the step up in trip.
“We just found out he had a throat issue when he was out (in the paddock) for six months and it’s taken a while to get him fit,” Roche said.
“The two runs will have hardened him up considerably.”
Tindal has only tackled 1600 metres twice before, winning at Moonee Valley last year and finishing third to subsequent Melbourne Cup winner Shocking at Flemington in 2009.
However, Roche believes the key to the gelding is a light weight.
Tindal carried 59kg at Sandown first-up and 56kg last start but drops to the 52kg minimum in the Villiers.
It was enough to sway Roche to test Tindal in the Group Two rather than a Benchmark race on the same program.
“The reason I opted for the Villiers rather than the Benchmark 80 race was that he would have carried 58-and-a-half kilos in the other one,” Roche said.
“He doesn’t handle weight very well.”
A bumper field of 19, including three emergencies, was paid up for the summer feature on Wednesday.
Gai Waterhouse will be represented by King Lionheart and Kontiki Park while Chris Waller will also have two runners in Altered Boy and Alexander Of Hales.
Mark Kavanagh will make the trip to Sydney from Victoria to start Shadowfax who has a great strike rate with six wins from 18 starts.
AAP TURF
