Maloney a good fit to take Lloyd reins
MELBOURNE jockey Ryan Maloney shapes as the man who will take over from champion hoop Jeff Lloyd as the main rider for Toby Edmonds’ stable.
Maloney moved to Queensland last weekend and Gold Coast-based Edmonds said the 32-year-old could fill the void left by Lloyd, who will return to South Africa after the winter carnival.
Lloyd will retire to spend more time with family and help his two sons, Jaden and Zack, begin their own careers in the saddle in South Africa.
“Ryan is a young bloke who rode for us a bit in Melbourne and is working with us right now,” Edmonds said.
“He is up here doing some work and we will see how he settles in. He would be one of our choices so we will just see.
“We are looking for a rider to take over from Jeff and he fits the bill.
“I have been watching him for a long time and he is a good, hard-working kid.
“He is a fringe Melbourne rider that was riding winners on Saturdays.
“That is where he has to be to go well here.”
Lloyd has dominated Queensland racing in the past three years and is well clear in the race for the 2017-18 metropolitan jockeys premiership.
It will be his third straight title, with many of his winners for the Edmonds stable.
Maloney is suspended from race riding until the new season begins in August after pleading guilty to providing a positive urine sample to a banned stimulant at a race meeting at Caulfield in March.
He has recorded more than 800 wins over a 15-year career and rode the Edmonds-trained Eptimum to victory in the Group 3 Red Anchor Stakes at Moonee Valley in October last year.