A first Melbourne Group One is in sight for Adelaide jockey Dom Tourneur but he says favourite Hucklebuck still has to step up another notch to win the Australian Guineas.
After partnering the gelding to a convincing win in the CS Hayes Stakes last start, Tourneur believes Hucklebuck can make that step and heads into the Group One on Saturday at Flemington with confidence.
Hucklebuck, Dom Tourneur - Photo by Sharon Chapman
“At this stage I wouldn’t want to be on the back of any other horse,” Tourneur said.
“But he has got to take that next step to be competitive at Group One level.”
Tourneur pinpointed Eurozone, runner-up in the CF Orr Stakes at weight-for-age, and Cox Plate winner Shamus Award as horses proven at the top level.
“They are not going to be pushovers,” Tourneur said.
“They are all there to have a crack at the big one and I’m sure they are all going to be primed for it and he’s got to take the next step to be competitive. But I’m confident he can.”
Tourneur is no stranger to Victorian Group One racing having finished second on Alcopop in the 2012 Caulfield Cup and Caulfield Stakes and ridden the stayer in the 2009 Melbourne Cup when he finished sixth as favourite.
Craig Williams was aboard when Alcopop won his Group One in the 2012 Mackinnon Stakes.
Tourneur said victory on Hucklebuck would be the best way to repay trainer Phillip Stokes.
“Phillip has put a lot of faith in me going over to Melbourne for these trips,” Tourneur said.
“It’s easy to replace me with a Melbourne jockey but he’s got every confidence in me. And to be able to do it for him to get a Melbourne Group One would be the icing on the cake.”
Tourneur’s only Group One win so far came on the Stokes-trained Maybe Discreet in the Australasian Oaks in Adelaide last year.
Vanity Stakes winner Solicit has been taken out of Guineas markets with the intention to run her against her own sex in the Kewney Stakes.
Hucklebuck is the TAB’s $4 favourite ahead of Eurozone at $4.60 and Shamus Award and The Quarterback at $7.
