Top Seniors Riders Back on Track in Adelaide
- Friday, 10 January 2003 00:00
Gatt is back in the saddle locally after a three-month stint in Macau, while Bowditch returns from a long break after suffering a hand injury.
Gatt hopes to re-establish himself among the top senior riders in South Australia, but also yearns to travel again.
"I'm just going to put my head down and work really hard until the end of the season, then go from there," Gatt said. "Macau was a good experience - a real eye-opener - but I did miss home a lot. I made a lot of contacts over there, though, and left on good terms so I may return one day. I would certainly like to ride overseas again."
Gatt has been booked to ride four horses at Morphettville tomorrow - Barabba Road for trainer Phillip Stokes, The Ex Files for Peter Jolly, Prince Of Revelry for Paul Seater and Royal Liftout for Tony McEvoy.
"One of the best things about Macau was the humidity - it was easy to keep weight off," Gatt said. "I put on a bit of weight being home but not riding over Christmas and New year but I'm down to 54.5kg and my lightest ride tomorrow is 55.5kg. I hope to get down to about 53kg over the next couple of meetings."
"There are a number of good races coming up over February so it's a good time to be home. Hopefully I can pick up some handy rides."
Saturday week at Victoria Park is the Listed Feltex New Years Gift and Queen Adelaide Stakes, while February has some excellent racing action at Morphettville.
The Group 3 Feltex RN Irwin Stakes, Group 2 Alcohol Go Easy Breeders' Stakes and Listed C.S. Hayes Memorial Cup is on Saturday February 1, while the Group 2 Swettenham Stud Stakes and Group 3 Tokyo City Cup follow a fortnight later.
The following Wednesday, during Magic Millions Adelaide Sales week, is the $400,000 Magic Millions Classic, also at Morphettville.
Media Release - Jason Hickson (TRSA)
