Weight right for ‘Extremely Lucky’ Kerrin McEvoy

Racing’s swings and roundabouts have landed Kerrin Mcevoy in the box seat this week, with a change of plans gifting him the first-up mount on former South Australian sprinter Extremely Lucky.

Now with Chris Waller, Extremely Lucky was scheduled to kick off his campaign in a benchmark race at Rosehill last Saturday with James Mcdonald booked to ride him at 60kg.

However, a poor scope prompted the horse’s scratching with Waller re-routing him to this weekend’s Group 3 Show County Quality (1200m) at Randwick where he has just 53kg, a handicap out of McDonald’s range but fortuitously for McEvoy, within his.

The five-year-old has raced just seven times for three wins, including a Listed victory in Adelaide, and McEvoy is rapt to pick up the ride after trialling Extremely Lucky recently at Canterbury.

“He’s a nice horse, I was really taken by him when I trialled him,” McEvoy said.

“He’s probably my best ride on the weekend.

“He gets in with a light weight on his back and I think he’s a sprinter on the up.”

McEvoy and Waller teamed up to capture the Listed Rowley Mile with Bold Mac at Hawkesbury on Thursday and combine in three stakes races at Randwick, McEvoy also riding Lazzago for the leading trainer in the Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) and Hinged in the Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m).

Hinged was edged out by Anamoe first-up last campaign over the same course and distance and will appreciate the rain-affected conditions.

“She can go with a bit of juice in the ground, which we look like we’ll get on the weekend,” McEvoy said.

“First-up, the trip is no problem, and she has trialled satisfactorily …. I can see her getting to the races and just switching on that little bit more.

“She can run a bold race first-up because we know from previous seasons, she is effective early on in her preparation.”

Lazzago returns from a promising juvenile campaign in which she won the Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes but will need to overcome a wide draw in 14.