Thursday, 8 October 2009: International jockey Kerrin McEvoy believes winning Saturday's $1 million Caulfield Guineas with Denman will mean much more the world's most affluent racehorse owner Sheikh Mohammed than his breakthrough victory in last year's Caulfield Cup with All The Good.
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Denman and Kerrin McEvoy winning the Golden Rose. They will try to win the Caulfield Guineas this Saturday.
Photo by Bronwen Healy
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All The Good, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, gave Sheikh Mohammed's worldwide Godolphin stable its first Group One success in Australia after more than a decade of failed spring carnival campaigns that had yielded only two lesser Group wins.
McEvoy was given a great opportunity when he was offered a riding position with the Godolphin stable in the UK five years ago and is now the number one jockey for Sheikh Mohammed stable in Australia under the Darley banner.
He rode All The Good in the $2.5 million Caulfield Cup but believes Sheikh Mohammed will look on a win in the $1 million Caulfield Guineas as a far more important success because it will be recognised as victory under the Darley banner and go a long way towards justifying the huge investment the ruler of Dubai has made in Australian racing and breeding over the last two years.
“For a three-year-old colt, I think this is the main Guineas and a stallion making race,” McEvoy said.
“In a strong year like this it's going to mean an awful lot to win the Guineas for Darley as a whole.”
Last year McEvoy finished third in the Caulfield Guineas on the Darley-owned Von Costa De Hero behind Whobegotyou and another Darley-owned three-year-old Time Thief.
Von Costa De Hero was trained by David Hayes while Time Thief was in the Lee Freedman stable.
Denman is in the stable of Darley's number one Australian trainer Peter Snowden with McEvoy moving to Sydney last year to fill the role as stable jockey.
McEvoy's book of five rides on Guineas are all for Darley.
He will wear maroon and white Darley silks on the Snowden-trained trio Governance, Kanaz and Denman as well as the Freedman-trained pair Romneya and Wilander.
