Black Caviar will find it hard to chase down Rain Affair

IS the great Black Caviar beatable in the $1 million T.J. Smith Stakes?

Black Caviar

IS the great Black Caviar beatable in the $1 million T.J. Smith Stakes?

There will be some who may think I should be put in a strait jacket for saying this but I honestly believe she can be beaten and although you don't want to be the one to rain on her parade, I'm a professional and I've got a job to do on Rain Affair.

I would have preferred a slow to heavy track because Rain Affair is such a good horse on wet tracks but he's also effective on top of the ground and has run track records previously.

Rain Affair feels like his old self to me. He has improved since his first-up run, he's very fit and is in a great place.

He only knows one way to race and that is to lead at a genuine tempo so we won't die wondering today. Put it his way, he is going to be the hardest target Black Caviar has had to chase for a while.

This won't be the walk in the park Black Caviar has been getting in Melbourne - this will be the toughest race she has run in for ages.

Rain Affair is a favourite of mine because he tries so hard, he doesn't give up, and he will make this a great contest.

Black Caviar is a freak, we all know that. She is great for racing and is bringing people back to the track again.

But this is a horse race and I'll be doing my best to win on Rain Affair.

DERBY IN THE ROUGH

THERE would not have been too many times in my career when I've been really looking forward to riding a $41 chance in a Group 1 race.

But that is how I feel about Gerontius, my mount in the $1.5 million David Jones ATC Australian Derby.

Derby Day is one of the great days in Australian racing and although most of the focus this week has been on Black Caviar, the Derby is one of those races every jockey wants to win.

I won the Derby on Eremein in 2005 and it remains one of the real highlights of my career. I remember being very confident before that race as I felt I was riding the best horse. I just had to do my job by giving him every possible chance.

It is a different today because Gerontius is an outsider and the Derby betting is dominated by It's A Dundeel. As a winner of the Randwick and Rosehill Guineas at his last two starts, he is a deserved favourite.

On paper, this looks a one-horse race but anything can happen.

If It's A Dundeel is to be beaten, then I believe Gerontius is definitely one of the best chances in the race to upset the favourite.

I didn't ride Gerontius last week in the Tulloch Stakes but I've watched the replay repeatedly and I really loved the way this horse ran through the line.

He may have finished fifth but the race was over 2000m and the last part of his race was the best part.

Trainer David Hayes is quietly confident Gerontius can really put it to the favourite and that is good enough for me.

READY, AIM, SIRES

OVERREACH was brilliant winning the Golden Slipper last week but it's a whole new ball game in the ATC Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) today. She has to prove she can stay a strong 1400m and that is not a given - not yet anyway.

I'm riding Champollion and he is the only horse in the Sires to have won at 1400m.

His win last week on Slipper Day was very impressive and he looks a real racehorse to me.I love riding for Peter Snowden and I'm happy to be on a horse in winning form.