Schofield With Good Chances At Valley
- Friday, 31 July 2015 08:21
Group One-winning jockey Chad Schofield is excited about the challenge ahead in Hong Kong but first will be out to start the new racing season in Australia on a winning note at Moonee Valley.
Schofield's book of rides on Saturday - the first day of the 2015/16 Australian racing season - includes four last-start winners with Il Cavallo and Raposo both favourites in their respective races.
"Both (Il Cavallo and Raposo) have drawn ideally and are last-start winners coming into Saturday in good form," Schofield said.
Jockey Chad Schofield
The Peter Moody-trained Il Cavallo scored over 1000m at Flemington two weeks ago when ridden by Dwayne Dunn.
Schofield has ridden the well-bred Il Cavallo in a race once before for a close second at Mornington.
The Patrick Payne-trained Raposo has won two of his past three starts including the Silver Bowl Series Final at Flemington three weeks ago and Schofield will be having his first ride on the four-year-old.
The 21-year-old jockey recently returned to Australia from a stint in England during the southern hemisphere winter which included riding Criterion at Royal Ascot.
He heads to Hong Kong in just over two weeks ahead of the start of their season in early September.
"The last season was a bit stop-start for me (in Melbourne) with injuries and a couple of big suspensions. Hopefully this next one is not like that and is nice and fluent," Schofield said.
"The season in Hong Kong starts in September and hopefully I can hit the ground running."
Schofield said it had always been a goal to ride in Hong Kong where he spent four years when his father Glyn was riding there.
"I can't wait to start a new challenge over there and hopefully it's prosperous for me," he said.
"I'll go there and work as hard as I possibly can and my goal would be just to ride as many winners as possible.
"It's very competitive and tough over there. It's one of the toughest racing jurisdictions in the world, but I'm looking forward to it.
Schofield starts a 10-meeting suspension after Saturday's Moonee Valley meeting for careless riding at Cranbourne on Wednesday.
He will ride in Melbourne on August 12 and 15 before leaving for Hong Kong.
