Newitt is keen to leapfrog his rivals
FOR Craig “Froggy” Newitt, and exciting colt Glenfiddich, Saturday’s Group 1 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield could prove to be a “springboard”.
Glenfiddich and Tasmanian-born Newitt, who recently returned to riding fulltime in Victoria after a stint on the Apple Isle, have come together in the pursuit of success.
Trainer Peter Moody’s colt could be icing on the cake as Newitt, 35, a winner of 33 Group 1 races across a 20year career, stands to benefit from a COVID-19 Melbourne spring carnival.
The quarantine restrictions mean Sydney-based jockeys, such as James McDonald, Kerrin McEvoy, Hugh Bowman and Tommy Berry, must choose Melbourne trips wisely with flyin-fly-out off the table.
The opportunity this presents is not lost on anyone in Melbourne jockeys rooms.
“It’s going to be a different spring, this carnival,” Newitt said. “It opens up a lot of doors for a lot of jockeys.
“If you can get a major on the board early in the spring, it should springboard into the rest of it.”
Experience and light weight has Newitt in a sweet spot. He has the Glenfiddich ride as much as anything because he can get down to the 50.5kg required under the three-year-old’s weight-forage allotment.
Newitt has only ridden the colt once – a recent gallop between races at Pakenham – but it was enough of a carrot for him to shed the few kilograms required for Saturday.
“He’s a really nice horse, a big, strong athletic colt, so he won’t know himself with 50.5 on his back,” Newitt said.
“To look at him and sit on the back of him he’s a very mature three-year-old.
“He’s got a lot of size about him, his big issue is going to be mentally.
“He’s got a bit of a reputation of being a lad, but the other day he was really sensible, so he looks to have grown up a little bit.
“With no weight on his back, I’m tipping he’s going to give them something to chase.”
Glenfiddich, the first three-year-old in 25 years to run first-up in the Memsie, almost pinched the Group 1 Champagne Stakes in the autumn, only to be mowed down late by King’s Legacy.
He faces a sterner test on Saturday against seasoned weight-for-age gallopers.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are, you need to be a genuine Group 1 star (to win the Memsie), which this bloke has yet to prove,” Newitt said. “He’s got a really big future.”