A host of Victoria’s apprentices will compete on centre stage at Melbourne racing’s headquarters in the Rising Stars Final at Flemington.
Saturday’s Rising Stars Final is the culmination of a series of races for apprentices only, conducted throughout Victoria during the season.
Regan Bayliss won last year’s Rising Stars Final in his first Flemington ride to finish as a joint winner of the series with Jye McNeil.
McNeil heads into Saturday as the joint leader with Jackie Beriman after he won the final heat at Echuca on Monday.
That pair cannot be overhauled by any other apprentice in the series point score.
McNeil, who is booked to ride Every Faith, needs only a top five finish in the final to secure the series outright because Beriman will be overseas for an international apprentices’ series race in the United States.
There are 24 horses nominated for the Final, an 1800m benchmark race for fillies and mares which has a field limit of 12 plus four emergencies.
Trainer Andrew Noblet has Katelyn Mallyon booked to ride No Excuses Bec and he believes the mare will run well having been pleased with her two runs this campaign.
