Craig Newitt has drawn level with Luke Nolen at the top of the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership with a victory aboard Get Out Of Town at Sandown.
The pair have now ridden 61 metropolitan winners apiece this season but Nolen won’t get the chance to add to that tally this week.
He is in England preparing to ride Black Caviar in Saturday’s Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot while Newitt will be in action at Flemington where he has six mounts.
Newitt’s victory aboard the Byron Cozamanis-trained Get Out Of Town in Wednesday’s Sportingbet Handicap (2100m) was a good result for punters who crunched him from $5.50 to $3.50.
It was the four-year-old’s first city victory and Newitt said he travelled like a winner in the run.
“He gave me a beautiful ride throughout the race,” Newitt told TVN.
“He’s only got a little, short, sharp turn of foot on him but we just had to time it right and today was his day.”
Newitt leads the national premiership with 161 wins and is also ahead in the race for the Victorian title but he has made it clear his sights are firmly set on claiming his first Melbourne jockeys’ premiership.
While Newitt has been a regular visitor to the winner’s circle in Melbourne, Queensland apprentice Bradley Wallace broke new ground with his victory aboard Forty Thirty at Sandown.
The 20-year-old son of Queensland trainer John Wallace guided the Clinton McDonald-trained Forty Thirty to an all-the-way win in the Art Series Hotel Group Handicap (1500m) to land his first success on a Melbourne city track.
The win was Wallace’s third overall since joining trainer Tony Noonan on a three-month loan.
