1 week Ago By Christian Nicolussi
Globe-trotting jockey Joao Moreira stands to earn $568,750 for just over five minutes work should a few big-race favourites win in the coming days, including Golden Eagle hope Ascoli Piceno. The Japanese filly and Moreira completed two laps at Canterbury on a warm and cloudy morning on Wednesday before knuckling down for the final 600m. Not even getting gate 17 in Tuesday night’s barrier draw was enough to worry Moreira or the horse’s trainer, Yoichi Kuroiwa, who said via a translator: “I wanted the horse to draw somewhere in the middle.
What I didn’t want was an inside draw, so it’s better [being out] than in – we’re not really worried about it. She’s one of the best milers in Japan. Her appetite has also been good [since being in Australia], which is key.
” Jockeys take home five per cent of prizemoney on a race, which would amount to a $262,500 payday for Moreira if Ascoli Piceno wins the Golden Eagle. He will also ride King Of Sparta in the $3m Russell Balding Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill, with the gelding producing a long and eye-catching run home first-up, while Buckeroo is the favourite for next Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup, which has a first-place prize of $4.4m.
Moreira could earn even more if any of the winning connections give the jockey a bonus from their own earnings, what is widely known in racing as a “sling”. Ascoli Piceno and Joao Moreira knuckle down at Canterbury on Wednesday morning. Credit: Kate Geraghty/SMH For his part, the jockey known as “Magic Man” said he was just glad to be on some nice horses, including Ascoli Piceno, which drifted from $3.
50 to $6 with bookmakers following the barrier draw. “She feels better than how she felt last week, definitely, she’s spot-on, we just have to hold that form until Saturday,” Moreira said. “Last week she was not 100 per cent, she was still building .
.. I could feel she was on the way up.
Today is where we want her to be..
