Cup-winner Cassidy pumped to give sole female jockey a winning tip

Cup-winning Jim Cassidy will be pumping for a longshot in the race that stops Australia tomorrow.

Track rider Billy Owen takes Melbourne Cup runner Single Gaze for a walk at Moridialloc beach. Picture: David Geraghty

Kathy O’Hara will have plenty of people in her corner when she saddles up on Single Gaze for her Melbourne Cup debut tomorrow.

The 31-year-old jockey, who is in red-hot form after riding a hat-trick of winners at Rosehill on Saturday, is the only female rider in the race and as such will attract plenty of support from once-a-year punters willing her on.

But O’Hara will also have racing royalty on her side, with ­retired champion Jim “Pumper” Cassidy sharing his Cup expertise with her.

Cassidy, who won the Cup on Kiwi in 1983, and again in 1997 on Might and Power, was chuffed when O’Hara recently sought him out to seek his advice on how best to handle the 3200m race. Not that he thinks O’Hara needs any help.

“She is a very, very capable horsewoman,” he told The Australian. “I would prefer to have Kathy on than a lot of other riders.

‘‘She is backing her own confidence and if the mare is good enough, I am sure Kathy will give her the ride of her life. It is not about me, it is all about her, but if I can give her a little bit of advice that helps, I’m so proud.”

O’Hara said Cassidy had suggested she watch Darren Beadman’s ride on Kingston Rule in 1990 when planning for $41 longshot Single Gaze, who boasts owners from Canberra to Gundagai to the Gold Coast.

“He said you could ride her something like that. He reckons that’s the best way to ride her,” O’Hara said yesterday.

“There will be no tougher horse than her racing in the race, so I am happy to be on board.

“I’ve got a long time to get her into a rhythm, and just getting into a rhythm is the most important thing. So I don’t really mind where she is necessarily, but just as long as she’s happy.”

O’Hara is the only woman among the 23 jockeys chasing glory tomorrow, and her achievement has given her elder sister and housemate Tracy, who is also an accomplished jockey, the perfect excuse to attend her first Melbourne Cup.

Although not riding as much anymore after having a daughter, Ella, a couple of years ago, Tracy O’Hara feels as though she invests as much energy on her younger sister’s mounts with good reason.

She said her heart skipped a beat when it looked as though the Nick Olive-trained Single Gaze might win the Caulfield Cup a fortnight ago, before finishing a brave second to Boom Time.

“It is just so exciting watching her and I thought she was going to win it,” she said. “We are just so proud of her and we will be having celebrations, win, lose or draw.”

Cassidy admits he’ll have divided loyalties when watching the $6.2m classic tomorrow — his son-in-law, Zac Purton, will ride $15 hope Max Dynamite — but family loyalties aside, “Pumper” says he won’t be surprised if O’Hara’s mount is in the thick of it when the horses hit the final straight at Flemington.

“To see Kathy do it would give me quite a kick,” he said.