Ben Looker will reunite with the horse that took his tally of winners for the season to 100 when he hops aboard the Paul Shailer-trained Gold Merchant at Taree on Monday.
Gold Merchant’s gritty and determined first-up win was number 21 for the Shailer/Looker combination but ushered in a major milestone for his rider given it was the jockey’s 100th win for the 2022/23 season.
Looker joins Aaron Bullock and James McDonald as the only NSW jockeys to ridden 100 or more winners this season.
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Looker’s ride on Gold Merchant was as good as any of his other previous 99 winners ; the horse covered less ground than any of his rivals despite drawing the outside alley.
‘’I thought that Gold Merchant would need the run so he probably exceeded our expectations which is always a good thing,’’ Shailer said.
‘’It wasn’t a weak race and I don’t think Monday’s race is much stronger.
‘’I would love it to be 1800m but I just wanted two ‘mile runs’ into him before he stepped up in trip.
‘’He’s drawn 8 of 8 again but he’ll get back to last and then his chances will be determined by the tempo of the race I suppose.’’
Trainer Paul Shailer. Picture: Trackside Photography
Gold Merchant is a blue-blood in every sense of the word given that is a member of the world renowned Best In Show dynasty.
‘’He’s only a young horse, he is still a three-year-old and has got a lot of maturing to do, so he’s got a little bit of upside,’’ Shailer says.
‘’I would suggest he would be able to stay and he’s pretty good on wet tracks so he’ll be a nice winter horse that should win a few races.’’
Shailer is credited with saddling-up one of the most intriguing horses on Monday’s card namely Triple Money.
Born and bred in New Zealand like his trainer, Triple Money, arrives at Shailer HQ with a sunny C.V of five placings from his seven starts.
‘’He came over from New Zealand with reasonable maiden form,’’ Shailer pointed out.
‘’We turned him out for three weeks and geez, he put on so much weight, so he was further behind the eight-ball than we anticipated.
‘’He only trialled fair in his first trial so we made a couple of gear changes and he was better in his second one.
‘’I was a little bit disappointed about the weight he has been given; 61 kilos in a maiden handicap makes it difficult. If he wins on Monday they’ll give him points and then he won’t even be able race in a (Benchmark) 58, he’ll have to go straight to a 64.’’
Triple Money was knocked down for $50,000 at the Karaka Yearling Sale in 2020.
The now four-year-old is a son of Pins out of a half-sister to 2008 NZ Bloodstock Filly of The Year Insouciant and a great grandson of 1984 Wakeful winner and VRC Oaks runner-up (to Spirit Of Kingston), Our Lafite.
‘’The horse is going okay,’’ Shailer reported. ‘’He is probably showing us that he is going to be a better horse once he gets to 2000m or at least a mile and beyond. So I would suspect that Monday’s trip might be a little bit sharp for him but there is plenty of improvement in him.
‘’If he just enjoys a nice run from barrier 5, he should run well.’’
Triple Money will have company in his Monday mission from stablemate Millennibarr.
‘’She trialled nicely about a week ago and she’s going to the races in the best condition she can be in,’’ Shailer said.