Bold moves during races and relentless drives to the line define Nash Rawiller as a premier jockey.
Trainer Joe Pride insists that his keen eye for equine talent belongs on that honour roll too.
Their effective teamwork has blossomed recently, most prominently courtesy of champion sprinter Eduardo, so Pride trusts Rawiller’s pronouncements.
Rawiller has significantly influenced the rise of sprint mare Weeping Woman and, despite missing her ride in Saturday’s Triscay Stakes (1200m) because of her feather weight, his observations from the latest trial stick with Pride.
“Nash got off her the other day after her trial and he said, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if she graduates to being a Group One horse at some point, this mare’,” Pride relayed.
“I was a bit taken aback because I didn’t have her as that, but I have found over the years he is a bloody good judge, Nash.”
After winning the Listed Razor Sharp Handicap (1200m) last December, Weeping Woman boasts retained form from that series.
Box-mate and perennial warrior Coal Crusher joins the fray in the Expressway Stakes (1200m).
He placed second behind King Of Sparta in the corresponding fixture two years earlier, facing now mares of the calibre of Group 1 stars Joliestar and Lady Shenandoah; Pride acknowledges the elite nature of this select group.
“This is a ripper of a version,” Pride said.
“He’s going to be a big price because everybody doesn’t think he’s got the class of the others, but I have kept him up to the mark.
He had a good hit-out in a trial the other day and went really well. I think he’ll run a cheeky race, and he’ll get out and scoot.”
Coal Crusher, with Chad Schofield steering at $15 as the second-roughest chance of six, trails favourite Weeping Woman ($4.40) who draws Tim Clark.
The betting markets for the race are heating up ahead of the Triscay Stakes showdown.
The post Weight keeps Rawiller from Woman in Triscay Stakes first appeared on Just Horse Racing.