English hoop Harry Davies to make Australian debut on The Ingham day

The talented young rider has two rides for Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald and partners Mighty Ulysses in The Ingham.

Mighty Ulysses will be one of Harry Davies first Australian rides.. Picture: Reg Ryan/Getty Images.

English rising star Harry Davies will be thrust straight into the hot seat with the young gun locked in to pilot Mighty Ulysses in Saturday’s Group 2 $2 million The Ingham (1600m) at Royal Randwick.

Davies, 21, is the latest UK rider to try his luck in Australia over the summer with UK champion apprentice Billy Loughnane and multiple Group 1-winning Dylan Browne McMonagle also set to ride at the feature meeting.

Loughnane made his debut last weekend while McMonagle has been in Australia for more than a month and won Newcastle’s Group 3 Spring Stakes aboard Snitzanova.

Davies has two rides for in-form training partnership Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald at the feature meeting.

Riding for the first time in January 2022, Davies enjoyed a successful apprenticeship which included a Group 2 victory aboard Arabian Dusk in the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes.

He gets the chance to double that tally on his first day riding in Australia aboard imported gelding Mighty Ulysses.

Might Ulysses was fourth in the Group 3 Festival Stakes (1500m) and is a $31 chance in the feature event.

It’s one of two chances for Neasham and Archibald in a capacity field for The Ingham with last start Group 1 Railway Stakes winner Port Lockroy ($9).

Gringotts is The Ingham favourite. Picture: Sam Ruttyn.

The Ciaron Maher-trained Gringotts is the $3.80 favourite as he looks to complete a carnival feature hat-trick following impressive victories in the Big Dance and The Gong.

But the talented son of Per Incanto, to be ridden by Tommy Berry, will need to defy 106-years hoodoo with a 60.5kg impost.

Not since Rebus, which set the weight-carrying record under 9st 10lbs or 61.5kg in 1918, has a horse carried more weight to victory in The Ingham, formerly known at the Villiers Stakes.

Festival Stakes winner Private Eye ($9.50) carries topweight of 61.5kg with trainer Joe Pride also set to saddle up Lekvarte ($23) and Estadio Mestalla ($13).

Im’intowin ($9) will back up from a win at Rosehill Gardens last weekend.

Originally published as English hoop Harry Davies to make Australian debut on The Ingham day