Damien Oliver wasted no time making his way back into the winner’s stall at his first meeting of 2023, partnering a winning double at Sandown on Saturday.
The Hall of Fame jockey guided Worsfold to victory for Nick Ryan early in the card before getting the Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young -trained Riverplate to bounce back after his defeat as a short-priced favourite at The Valley on Christmas Eve.
That was the previous meeting Oliver rode at prior to Sandown with the champion hoop surrendering rides over the busy Christmas and New Year period to celebrate the festive season with family in his native Western Australia.
“It was good to have 10 days off over Christmas with the family, but it’s back to work today,” he said.
Oliver’s Sandown wins were contrasting wins with Worsfold coming from the second half of the field to make it back-to-back wins to start that gelding’s career with new trainer Ryan, before producing a front-running masterclass aboard Riverplate.
The four-year-old son of Flying Artie was considered a doubt at the 1800m of Saturday’s event after failing to run down $51 pop Rambler Rebel over 1600m at The Valley, but the $4.20 chance was expertly-rated by Oliver to go all the way and score by 1-1/2 lengths from The Nephew ($4.60).
It was the first time Oliver had ridden Riverplate since the Group 2 Stutt Stakes in the spring of 2021, when he finished second-last as a colt, and Oliver was impressive with his physical development.
“He had shown nice signs as a young horse, but hadn’t filled out,” he said.
“I haven’t ridden him for over a year, but he’s definitely filled out and furnished and matured a lot.”
