Gold Coast jockey Laura Cheshire will renew a long-standing association when she has her first Group Two ride in more than decade.
Cheshire will ride Kaharau for New Zealand trainer Kenny Rae in Saturday’s P J O’Shea Stakes (2200m) at the Sunshine Coast.
“I rode for Kenny as an apprentice back in New Zealand which is a good while ago now,” Cheshire said.
“He has brought three horses over and I rode Patsy’s Lass for him at the Gold Coast last week when she ran second.
“Patsy’s Lass is backing up at Caloundra and Kenny rang the owners to see if I could ride Kaharau as well.”
Cheshire said Kaharau wouldn’t be well suited at weight-for-age but there were some nice staying races for him later in the carnival.
“He has won eight races on soft tracks and has won up to 2400 metres so we know he will stay,” she said.
Cheshire said she was looking forward to riding against the best jockeys in the O’Shea Stakes.
“My last ride in a Group Two was on a horse called Devoted back when I was an apprentice in New Zealand. It is more than a decade ago,” Cheshire said.
“I won a Listed race on him so he was one of my favourite horses.”
Cheshire mainly rides on the Gold Coast and in the NSW Northern rivers but is one of the state’s most popular jockeys because of her work for various charities.
She has also come back from a career-threatening injury in a fall five years ago.
