Ex-jockey eyes off Championship win for partner James McDonald

Racing commentator Katelyn Mallyon told her partner she wants Saturday’s The Championships trophy on the mantelpiece as JMac gears up to bring Verry Elleegant to glory.

Former jockey Katelyn Mallyon is hoping her partner James McDonald’s winning combination with mighty mare Verry Elleegant will bring home a rose gold and silver Championships trophy on Saturday.

“I won’t mind having that one to dust,” the Punters+ tipster and Channel 7 racing commentator quipped as she held the Cerrone jewellers designed trophy on Tuesday.

Mallyon was also posing with the horse that promises to be one of the biggest obstacles to the Melbourne Cup winning combination of McDonald and Verry Elleegant bringing home the trophy in Saturday’s $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Montefilia will have champion jockey Hugh Bowman in the saddle “and will certainly make her presence felt in this race” said Mallyon.

“And in a field of this quality that is a big call.”

KATELYN’S SATURDAY TIPS ARE AVAILABLE EVERY THURSDAY ON PUNTERS.COM.AU

Katelyn Mallyon has grand ambitions for her partner James McDonald to claim the Championships Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes trophy this Saturday. Picture: Jonathan Ng

When they last met at Rosehill on March 19 in the Ranvet Stakes Montefilia stunned the crowd with a dominant run that kept the favourite Verry Elleegant nipping at her hoofs.

“I didn’t expect her to be as dominant as she was,” Mallyon said. “But I still think Verry Elleegant will win on Saturday. Chris Waller is an excellent trainer who excels at getting horses to peak at exactly the right moment.”

James McDonald is set to ride fan favourite and might mare Verry Elleegant at The Championships this Saturday.

However she said there were other exceptional horses “in the most competitive line-up” for what is considered the grand final of racing in recent years.

Among those is Anamoe, ridden by Tommy Berry, and Zaaki, ridden by Jamie Kah.

“I have ridden Zaaki at the beach every now and again and he is an absolute star,” she said.

“If it wasn’t for the rain I would have him coming out on top.”

Four-time premiership winning jockey James McDonald and jockey-turned-commentator Katelyn Mallyon are a golden couple of racing.

Mallyon also had enormous respect for Kah who she said is now “considered one of the best jockeys in Australia” and in a different league to when they came up against one another when Mallyon was an apprentice.

“If they had asked me to ride one of these horses I would have loved to have been back in the saddle on Saturday,” she said.

For his part Montefilia’s trainer David Payne agreed that it is “one hell of a hot field” but felt the bay mare will “run well”.

He said he had been “quietly confident” when she beat Verry Elleegant last time and on Saturday he said “we have done our best, we have got her well and now it’s up to her.”

A large crowd is expected to attend Royal Randwick this Saturday, especially with the majestic new Winx Stand now open for the general public and providing unprecedented facilities for punters.