Childs aiming to match father’s feat
MELBOURNE: Jordan Childs may have been too young to remember much of champion Northerly’s fighting Caulfield Cup win in 2002.
But he recalls watching from the couch at home a few years later when his father, Greg, won the race again, this time on Railings.
‘‘That’s probably one of my earlier memories of Dad winning a bigger race,’’ Childs said.
Today, Childs (22) gets his first opportunity to join his father on the honour roll of winning jockeys in the timehonoured 2400m handicap.
Childs won his first group 1 race earlier this year at Caulfield on Written By in the Blue Diamond Stakes and has his first Caulfield Cup ride on the German import Sound Check, one of two runners for trainer Mike Moroney.
‘‘I rode him on Tuesday morning at Flemington on the course proper and he’s a really nice type of horse,’’ Childs said.
‘‘He was a bit of a casual worker and only did what he had to do but I think we won’t see the best of him until race day.’’
Childs’ preparation for his first Caulfield Cup ride has included watching replays of Sound Check’s German races. The 6yrold has won seven of his 16 starts.
At his most recent start in August, Sound Check finished second to Caulfield Cup topweight Best Solution in the group 1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin (2400m).
‘‘I’ve had a look at a couple of his replays and he looks like he actually has a turn of foot which I think will suit Australian racing,’’ Childs said.
‘‘The barrier (16) is probably just a little bit wider that what we would have hoped for but there’s nothing we can do about that so we’ll have to make it work.’’
Bookmakers are dismissing the prospects of Moroney’s second runner, Vengeur Masque, rating him a $126 shot, but the trainer retains his faith the gelding has what it takes to be a threat in the big staying handicaps.
‘‘I just think on what I saw last year he’s very similar to (2000 Melbourne Cup winner) Brew, and he’s peaking now,’’ Moroney said.
‘‘If I was a bookmaker, I wouldn’t have him at the odds he’s at.’’ After disappointing in The Bart Cummings last year, Vengeur Masque did not run in the Caulfield Cup but went on to win the Geelong Cup and Queen Elizabeth Stakes either side of a second in the Lexus Stakes, missing a Melbourne Cup start for the second consecutive year.
Moroney said the horse, a laststart fifth in The Bart Cummings, was as well as he could get him.
‘‘We’ve really been aiming to peak him for these two races, the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, and we’ve been planning this for a long time.
‘‘We only gave him two runs in the autumn, probably at distances he couldn’t win at, just to aim him here. So we’ve put a lot of eggs in the one basket.
‘‘Whether he’s good enough to beat the Europeans and a mare like Youngstar, I’m not really sure.
‘‘He’s improved a lot but this year is probably one of the stronger Caulfield Cups I’ve seen for a long time.’’
Moroney has had Sound Check in his care in Australia for only three weeks but said he was a lovely relaxed horse and believed he had the right staying credentials.
‘‘He seems to have settled in well and he brings really good form.’’