Schofield Hoping For Gold In Doncaster
- Monday, 30 March 2015 07:11
Chad Schofield's chance to win his first Doncaster Mile hangs in the balance with Arabian Gold battling a hoof problem.
The David Vandyke-trained mare was lame after working on Monday morning and was found to have a corn.
Vandyke's vet applied a poultice and Arabian Gold will be monitored and examined by Racing NSW vet Craig Suann if she is an acceptor on Tuesday.
With just 50.5kg in Saturday's $3 million race, Arabian Gold is a $15 chance.
Schofield's ability to ride light has already helped him to win a Cox Plate on three-year-old Shamus Award.
The former champion Sydney apprentice, now based in Melbourne where he also won an apprentice's title, put the four-year-old through her paces in a 1200m trial at Warwick Farm on Friday and was suitably impressed.
Arabian Gold won the heat by 1-3/4 lengths over comeback galloper Complacent.
"She led her trial and cruised away from them effortlessly," Schofield said.
Schofield has won four Group One races, all during the 2013-14 racing season starting with an all-the-way Cox Plate win on Shamus Award who carried 49.5kg.
The jockey has added a Newmarket Handicap win on Lankan Rupee, a Champagne Stakes win on Go Indy Go and a Queensland Derby on Sonntag.
Arabian Gold is a multiple Group winner but is yet to break through in a Group One race.
Three-year-old Hallowed Crown and Japanese horse Real Impact, the George Ryder Stakes winner, have been joined at the top of the market by Kermadec who sits just outside the 20-horse field but has moved closer to a start with Laser Hawk to miss the race.
