Fresh from a successful Warrnambool carnival, prolific Victorian jockey Dean Yendall will be aiming even higher at the feature meeting in Adelaide.
Yendall is locked in a battle with fellow Victorian Brad Rawiller for the national jockeys’ premiership and has eight scheduled rides at Morphettville on Saturday.
Rawiller won last weekend’s Group One Australasian Oaks on May’s Dream for trainer Darren Weir with the two jockeys sharing duties for the Melbourne premiership leader.
Weir has one runner at Morphettville, Marmottan in a benchmark 90, with two of Yendall’s main rides for trainer Mick Price aboard More Rewarding in the Group One South Australian Derby and Tango’s Daughter in the Listed Adelaide Guineas.
Yendall, who is looking for his first Group One trophy, also rides the Dan Clarken-trained Miracles Of Life in the the Group Two Sportingbet Stakes (1200m), replacing Lauren Stojakovic aboard the filly at what could be her last start.
Like Tango’s Daughter, Miracles Of Life is raced by Sri Lankan businessman Muzaffar Yaseen’s Teeley Assets. She is included in the catalogue for a dispersal sale of much of Yaseen’s racing and breeding stock next month.
“I’ve had a bit of success for her owners so they booked me to ride her,” Yendall said.
Yendall has won stakes races on Tango’s Daughter at her past two starts including last week’s Queen Of The South Stakes in which the filly beat older mares.
“I think at the set weights she’s clearly the highest rated horse there,” Price said.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for her to go around against her own age. “You can ride a race on her I think D Yendall made the right decision last start and he’ll make his own decision tomorrow.”
Price is looking for a top-four finish from More Rewarding who finished a distant fourth behind runaway winner Order Of The Sun in the VRC St Leger.
Yendall said Miracles Of Life needed to avoid traffic to have the best possible chance at Morphettville.
“She’s not very big and she just gets knocked over too easily if she gets a bump,” he said.
“Hopefully she can have a trouble-free run and she’ll be hard to beat.”
