It has been close to six months since Christian Reith has had the chance to ride Tiger Tees in a race and he is looking to a successful reunion at Flemington on Saturday.
“I’m not suspended and finally get to ride him,” Reith said ahead of partnering the Joe Pride-trained sprinter in Saturday’s Group Two Yellowglen Stakes (1200m).
Reith has missed the sprinter’s past three starts through suspension, starting with the Stradbroke Handicap in June.
Tiger Tees forms part of a top book of feature race rides for Reith which includes equal favourite Nechita in the Group One Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) and Pear Tart in the Group One Myer Classic (1600m).
Tiger Tees hasn’t started since his fourth to Buffering in the Moir Stakes (1000m) at Moonee Valley on September 28, three weeks after he won the Concorde Stakes in Sydney with Peter Robl his pilot.
Reith rode Tiger Tees in nine of his first 11 starts for seven wins.
“He’s drawn the perfect gate (6) next to Howmuchdoyouloveme which is obviously the horse to beat,” Reith said.
“Everyone knows Tiger Tees gives you 110 per cent so if he’s there with 50 metres to go he’s going to be hard to hold out.”
Howmuchdoyouloveme, winner of five of his six starts including the Ramornie Handicap in July, is a dominant favourite on the back of an impressive first-up win in the Group Two Caulfield Sprint (1000m) two weeks ago.
He showed he had trained on well with a jump-out victory at Flemington on Tuesday.
The Con Karakatsanis-trained gelding will be ridden by Brenton Avdulla who rates the sprinter highly.
“I’ve always said he’s probably the most gifted animal I’ve ridden but as a racehorse you don’t know until he does it all,” Avdulla said.
“He’s big, he’s got a good action on him, he’s fast and he’s a winner but he’s got to take that next step race-pressure wise on Saturday down the straight in a Group Two race.”
