With regular jockey Kerrin Mcevoy in Melbourne for the Caulfield Cup, John Sargent had to find a new rider for Palmetto in the Five Diamonds Prelude and his booking of Kathy O’Hara proved a winning one.
O’Hara has been a mainstay of the Sydney jockeys’ room for many seasons but is enjoying a career renaissance this spring, winning the Group 1 Epsom Handicap on Rediener a few weeks ago and adding Saturday’s $1 million Prelude (1600m) for good measure.
Hers was a superbly timed ride on the winner, O’Hara finding a position on the fence trailing the speed before angling Palmetto ($21) into the clear and lifting him over the line in a driving finish to defeat Detonator Jack ($8.50) by a nose.
Waterford ($10) was a similar margin away third with Democracy Manifest ($5.50) turning in another eye-catching run, storming home from the rear for a close fourth.
O’Hara isn’t sure what to credit for her rich vein of form but says getting nice rides in the right races is a big help.
“I’m not really sure, but I’m happy with the opportunities I’ve been getting,” O’Hara said.
“It’s all about being in the right place at the right time and that happens to be me right now.
“He was all out but he wanted to win.”
Sargent has had next month’s $2 million Five Diamonds (1800m) as a spring goal for Palmetto from the start of his campaign.
But he was happy to collect Saturday’s 1500m lead-up along the way, as were the horse’s owners who made the trip from New Zealand to be in Sydney for the race.
“They were all a bit hung over after the All Blacks won this morning, but they made it today and they will be back in three weeks for the final,” Sargent said.
“Kerrin (McEvoy) had to go down and ride in the Caulfield Cup, I thought Kathy (O’Hara) would suit him, and she is riding on the crest of a wave.
“I said to Kathy, you don’t need to worry about taking off, as long as you just hide him away he’s got a good finish, don’t get there too soon and she just timed it perfectly.
“He’s a horse who will be better out over further, 1800, and if it rains.
“He hasn’t had a wet track since he’s been in Australia and he loves the wet.”
Chris Waller’s right hand man Charlie Duckworth was rapt with the runs of Waterford and Democracy Manifest and said both would press on to the Five Diamonds at Rosehill on November 11.
“I think if Democracy Manifest gets any luck in one of these races, like he did in the Cameron (Handicap at Newcastle), then he is right there,” Duckworth said.
“Waterford is the same, they’re both going well.”
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Unspoken, a dominant winner of the Filante Handicap (1600m) at Randwick, is also on a path to the Five Diamonds in three weeks.
