Nash Rawiller’s sacking from Melbourne Cup favourite Fiorente hasn’t dented his spirit with Sydney’s premier rider still looking forward to the major spring races.
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Cracks began appearing in the relationship between Gai Waterhouse and her No.1 rider earlier this year when Rawiller spent the final four months of the season riding many horses from outside the stable in his successful bid for the premiership.
Waterhouse announced at the weekend the owners had decided to replace Rawiller with Damien Oliver on Fiorente after the horse finished fourth in the Turnbull Stakes at Caulfield.
The jockey forfeited rides at Sydney’s two major spring meetings to ride Fiorente in Melbourne but said there were no hard feelings.
He will ride the Waterhouse-trained Divine Calling in Saturday’s Caulfield Guineas, ironically replacing Oliver who has ridden him to two wins in Melbourne but switches to Prince Harada.
“There’s no animosity,” Rawiller said.
“I just have to find another good horse.
“And Divine Calling is a good chance in the Guineas.”
One of the horses Rawiller is hoping to ride is Royal Descent in the Caulfield Cup on October 19 but much depends on whether Lloyd Williams pays up for Green Moon on Tuesday.
If he doesn’t, weights will go up into Rawiller’s range.
Trainer Chris Waller said he hoped to lock in a jockey in the next day or so.
“She has been Nash’s horse and if the weights go up that will change things,” Waller said.
“The decision will be (owner) Gerry Harvey’s.
“But we still have a couple of other horses heading to the Caulfield Cup, Kelinni and Moriarty, which might get Nash’s weight.”
Rawiller won the ATC Australian Oaks on Royal Descent who had a troubled time in the Turnbull but Waller said she had come out unscathed.
Solzhenitsyn looms as another realistic Group One chance for Rawiller in Saturday’s Toorak Handicap as the Robert Heathcote-trained gelding chases back-to-back wins in the race.
Rawiller rode him into third place in the Rupert Clarke Stakes won by Rebel Dane, the same position he filled in that race last year before his Toorak win.
