New dad Thomas Stockdale aiming for more cheers

MELBOURNE – Jockey Thomas Stockdale hopes to continue the adrenaline rush of becoming a first-time father with success at the highest level at Flemington.

Stockdale partners with the Simon Zahra-trained Onavuitton in the A$1 million (S$898,000) Group 1 Australian Guineas (1,600m) on Feb 28, and while he knows he faces a stiff task in the three-year-old contest, the race can throw up a rough result.

He and wife Lily, the daughter of the late former jockey Peter Mertens, became proud parents to son Ronnie on Feb 22 and Stockdale said the excitement in becoming a new father was still evident.

“They got home on Tuesday, and I’ve been pretty much running on adrenaline since,” said Stockdale.

While the joys of parenthood are evident, Stockdale knows there is a job at hand on Saturday as he chases the biggest win of his career.

Earlier in the year he rode Unit Five to success in the Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1,200m) in the Gold Coast on Jan 17.

That was the first time Stockdale announced the imminent arrival.

“My wife back home, she’s heavily pregnant with our first child,” he then said at the post-race interview.

“I’ll be home soon baby. Let’s just hope she wasn’t jumping around too much.”

He need not have worried, but now, a Group 1 would mean so much more, especially in the week his son was born.

A 25-1 chance in betting, Onavuitton is an outsider compared to the big three – Observer (13-10), Sixties (19-10) and Planet Red (19-5) – but the Australian Guineas can throw up some rough results with Lunar Fox scoring at 300-1 in 2021 while last year’s winner Feroce scored at 13-1.

Onavuitton has raced only four times and ran third in the Group 2 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1,400m) at Flemington last March.

He returned to win a Cranbourne maiden on Jan 10 before running fourth to Observer in the Group 2 Autumn Stakes (1,400m) at Caulfield on Feb 7.

“We were happy with his run,” said Stockdale, who has partnered the son of Castelvecchio at all his starts.

“He was a month between runs, and they never sat up in the race. They ran along at a good clip the whole way and Observer, he’s a class horse.

“I thought he did a good job to keep rolling along on the hot speed like he did, especially off the gap between runs.

“He would have benefited off it, and if you take the top three out, it’s a very even race.

“He always puts his best foot forward and his run in the Sires’ at Flemington was good and I think getting back to the bigger track at Flemington is only going to help him, especially stepping up to the mile.

“It’s a race that can throw up a rough result and Simon’s team is flying. They’re getting result after result and I’m confident they will have him in tip-top order on Saturday.” RACING AND SPORTS