Today I’m riding at Mornington. The rail is out 8 metres and the track is rated in the good range.
Race 6 is the BM78 Paul Stokes Handicap over 3080 metres. My ride here is HEIR TO THE THRONE (NZ) who is trained by Andrea Leek. This seven-year-old gelding by Pentire has had 40 starts for a record of seven wins and nine minor placings. He’s never raced over this distance but his winning range is from 1300 up to 2600 metres. He’s been racing very consistently this preparation and his past four starts have seen him net two wins and two fourth placings. I rode him at his most recent start in a handicap over 2400 metres at Caulfield, we had no galloping room for the last 200 metres and he finished half a length from the winner and was very unlucky. He is stepping up in distance and returns to racing in benchmark grade today, but he does carry 60 kilos. He looks well placed against this field and if he holds his form from last start he should be winning this.