Zac Lloyd delivered Domeland head conditioner and good friend Nacim Dilmi his first win as a trainer and he is hoping to go one better at Newcastle by providing his maiden stakes success.
Dilmi took over from Sara Ryan as Domeland’s private trainer this season after spending several years working under James Cummings at Godolphin, while Lloyd served the latter part of his apprenticeship with the global powerhouse.
The pair remain firm friends with Lloyd riding Dilmi’s first winner, Aix En Provence at Wyong in August, and on Saturday he is hoping to be part of another milestone when Probability Theory shoots to give Dilmi his first black type victory in the Spring Stakes (1600m).
“I’m excited to team up with him in a feature race,” Lloyd said.
“He’s a good friend of mine and he has improved this horse quite quickly. It has strung together two nice wins.
“I rode his first winner which was quite exciting so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do on Saturday.”
Probability Theory has won his past two starts over 1300m at Hawkesbury and extends to the mile for the first time.
It will also be a steep class rise from Midway Benchmark 64 company, although outside favourite Grand Prairie, many of his rivals arrive at the race with similarly modest profiles.
“He is stepping up drastically in grade but in saying that, the majority of the field are beside Grand Prairie,” Lloyd said.
“The horse will acquit himself well.”
Lloyd’s full book of mounts also includes favourite Yorkshire in the $1 million The Hunter (1300m), the prolific winner kick-starting a campaign aimed towards The Ingham (1600m) at Randwick next month.
“That is his target race, but when a horse doesn’t really know how to lose like he does, he’s definitely in with a good chance,” Lloyd said.
Yorkshire has been meticulously managed by John O’Shea and Tom Charlton to win six of his eight starts and O’Shea did claim the corresponding race with Lost And Running in 2021.
