Sydney’s premier rider Nash Rawiller is happy to miss a $1 million race at home on Saturday to continue his association with the horse he believes can land him even greater success later in the spring.
Rawiller will be a notable absentee from the Group One Golden Rose meeting at Rosehill, instead heading to Moonee Valley to ride Fiorente in the $300,000 Group Two Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m).
The race will give Fiorente a valuable look at the Valley circuit ahead of a planned Cox Plate mission next month and Rawiller is looking for last year’s Melbourne Cup runner-up to stamp his spring credentials on Saturday.
“We’re reasonably bullish about the Cox Plate with him so I would like to see him really get his chance to win and hopefully put them to the sword,” Rawiller said.
Rawiller rode Fiorente to a first-up sixth in the Memsie Stakes, a race he said was “a bit of a non-event” for the import who missed the start by four lengths and then had trouble gaining a clear run in the straight.
The top hoop, who is yet to win a Cox Plate or Melbourne Cup, has pinpointed the Gai Waterhouse-trained Fiorente as his big spring hope.
“I had good offers for the race here in Sydney on Saturday but I’ve felt all along, for a long-term prospect, there’s no other horse I’d rather be on in Australia at the moment,” Rawiller said.
“So hopefully that’s the case.”
Fiorente will have a gear change on Saturday with blinkers going back on.
Rawiller expects them to have a positive effect.
“As it turned out it was probably a shame he didn’t have them on first-up because I think it could have made a massive difference to him,” he said.
Fiorente is just being shaded for favouritism by Super Cool for Saturday’s race.
Super Cool won The Vase (2040m) at Moonee Valley last spring and caught the eye with a fast-finishing third when he resumed in the Memsie Stakes.
