Apprentice Jordan Childs has produced an impressive ride aboard Lilly Dazzler in the Rising Stars Final to give trainer Monica Croston the thrill of her first Flemington winner.
Saturday’s Rising Stars Final (1800m) was the culmination of a series of races throughout the season in Victoria which are restricted to apprentice riders.
Lilly Dazzler
Childs’ victory earned him third place overall in the series pointscore, but a fifth-place finish on Every Faith was enough for Jye McNeil to get the one point he needed to claim the Rising Stars Series outright over Jackie Beriman.
Beriman missed the final race because she is in America to compete in an apprentices’ invitation race.
While Childs, son of former top jockey Greg Childs, came out on top in the battle of the junior riders in Saturday’s race, it was four-year-old mare Lilly Dazzler’s trainer who was the most excited after the win.
“A Saturday winner at Flemington, you can’t beat it,” said Croston, who has six horses in work.
“It’s one on the bucket list done.
“I’m really rapt with this mare, she just keeps opening doors for me.
“We’ve given her plenty of time and we think she can keep taking steps up.”
There was some confusion after the race before chief steward Terry Bailey declared correct weight.
Childs has a 2kg claim in town but only claimed 1kg off Lilly Dazzler’s 55kg, but that was in accordance with his minimum riding weight of 54kg.
Lilly Dazzler settled back in the field and Childs had to be patient in the straight until gaps appeared.
When they did, Lilly Dazzler ($11) sprinted nicely to beat favourite Iteration ($5) by three-quarters of a length with Kept Woman ($8.50) a neck away third.
“I was a long way back and everything in front of me was stopping so we had to weave a bit of magic and she was very strong when she got clear,” Childs said.
