Roger James will break new ground as Silent Achiever bids to end a run of spring outs in the Cox Plate.
The New Zealand trainer has often figured in Australia’s best races but Silent Achiever will be his first Cox Plate runner.
Silent Achiever has been unplaced in three spring starts to follow a pattern of disappointing form during last year’s carnival.
But she has won at Moonee Valley in the 2012 Group Two Crystal Mile – her only Melbourne victory in her only start at the track.
James thinks that is as significant as the return of Nash Rawiller to ride the mare for the first time this spring.
Rawiller won the Ranvet Stakes and BMW in Sydney on Silent Achiever in the autumn and James said the jockey was enthusiastic about reuniting with the mare.
“The beauty of having Nash is he knows her capabilities and he’s getting on with that thought rather than the thought of her recent starts,” James said.
James admits the mare’s form suggests she’s not going as well as she was in the autumn.
“Somebody said to me the other day if Carlton House, Fiorente or Dundeel were in the race they’d probably be favourite,” James said.
“They said she beat all three in the autumn, so if you can have her in the same order as the autumn you’ve got to be right amongst it.
“The question is, have I got her in the same order? I think I have.”
