Apprentice Anthony Allen achieved a long-held ambition when he outrode his metropolitan allowance with his win on Discreet at Doomben on Saturday.
Allen, who will come out of his apprenticeship next week, made it 80 city wins when the favourite Discreet ($3.20) won the Madame Wu Handicap.
“It is every apprentice’s aim to outride his allowance so I am glad I have been able to do it. There are a few challenges ahead as a senior rider but I have the backing of some name trainers,” Allen said.
Discreet – Anthony Allen
Discreet became Allen’s 33rd metropolitan winner for the season and the mileston win is the result of some hard work in the past 12 months where he has ridden work at several centres.
Trainer Kelly Schweida will chase black type with Discreet who passed $500,000 in stakes with her eighth win.
“The whole idea with mares is to get black type to increase their value as a broodmare,” Schweida said.
“She has been very honest and when she strikes form she holds it for a long time.”
Meanwhile, Gold Coast trainer Brenden Mackay’s decision to put the breeding career of former Darley mare Cliques on hold reaped more rewards.
Cliques ($9.50) made it two starts for two wins for Mackay when she won the Duporth Tavern Handicap (1350m).
Mackay and his fiancee Megan Bale bought Cliques at a Darley dispersal sale but breeding plans didn’t work out.
“We put her in a paddock but she just wouldn’t settle. So I had a talk with a few people and I decided to roll the dice and put her into work,” Mackay said.
Mackay, who has spent several years with various trainers including Anthony Cummings, gave much of the credit to Bale.
“She is the one who puts in a lot of hard work and the horse looked lovely today,” he said.
