It hasn't taken long for Godolphin jockey James Doyle to get his eye in
It hasn’t taken long for Godolphin jockey James Doyle to get his eye in with the English rider emulating the feats of the man he has been flown to Australia to fill in for.
The global racing powerhouse’s Australian rider James McDonald has been sidelined after being charged with having an interest in a bet on Astern when he won on debut on December 5 last year at Randwick.
Almost one year later Doyle scored on another Godolphin two-year-old colt, Trekking, at Rosehill before adding picking up the Listed ATC Cup (2000m) on Malice.
McDonald won the race last year on the Chris Waller-trained Telepathic.
Doyle produced a skillful ride to get Malice ($8) home on Saturday.
From the widest barrier he took the horse to last to save ground and urged him through gaps to score by a long neck from Beyond Thankful ($21) with Iggi Pop ($14) finishing third.
Doyle said assistant trainer and former champion jockey Darren Beadman had been crucial to his success.
“He gave me all of the ins and outs of this track where to stake ground when to press,” Doyle said.
Trainer John O’Shea was delighted Doyle could receive an early confidence boost by winning a stakes race at his first Saturday meeting of his stint.
“It was a really fantastic ride,” O’Shea said.
The victory ended a 20-start run of outs for Malice with his last win the 2014 ATC Cup.
“He’s always had an affiliation with the track and his best performances have been here,” O’Shea said.
Doyle said he was happy to bide his time at the tail.
“He travelled into it late found a couple of spots and put them away well,” Doyle said.
“I had loads of horse and he quickened up good into the gap.”
