Fresh from claiming a brace of feature race wins over the weekend, Zac Lloyd has bedded down his mounts for two of the drawcard events of the Sydney autumn carnival.
Lloyd has confirmed he will partner Saturday’s Randwick Guineas winner Linebacker at 49kg in the Doncaster Mile (1600m), while the horse he teamed with to take out Sunday’s Black Opal Stakes (1200m), King Of Pop, will be his Golden Slipper (1200m) ride.
It was King Of Pop’s second win from as many starts, the Farnan colt denying the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Farcited, and Lloyd believes he will be a worthy Golden Slipper contender if he can squeeze into the field.
“He gave me a great feel. I was more than happy to lock in the ride straight away after the race,” Lloyd told Sydney’s Sky Racing radio on Wednesday.
“He jumped well. He did everything right for a two-year-old.
“I don’t think it was any slouch he went past in Farcited of Gai and Adrian’s, so I think he is going to be a good ride in the Slipper.”
Lloyd has also been booked for Linebacker in the Doncaster Mile after the young hoop’s brilliant tactical ride helped to land the John O’Shea & Tom Charlton -trained three-year-old his first major.
In doing so, Linebacker claimed the scalp of Golden Rose winner and Cox Plate placegetter Broadsiding, and he is now set to be given the chance to emulate the feat of Celestial Legend, who captured the Guineas-Doncaster Mile double 12 months ago.
“I think they’re going to go four weeks into the Doncaster like Celestial Legend did,” Lloyd said.
“At this time, I’ll be riding him in the Doncaster at 49 (kilos).
“It’s not easy but it’s definitely not as hard as the other boys. I walk around at 51-1/2, 52 (kilos), so just a bit of dieting and we should pull down pretty nicely.”
Lloyd has also been pencilled in to partner Godolphin colt Traffic Warden in the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill on Saturday week.
Traffic Warden resumed with a fifth in the Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington last month and will have an exhibition gallop between races at Thursday’s Kensington track meeting.
