Young jockey Josh Parr gets his chance to ride another Group 1 winner on Galah in the $500,000 Flinders Lane Rosehill Guineas (2000m) at Rosehill tomorrow.
Joshua Parr will ride Galah (pictured) in the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas - photo (c) Taron Clarke
Parr’s only Group 1 winner was Skilled in the 2010 $300,000 Moet & Chandon Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick for Darley trainer Peter Snowden.
Galah is also from the Darley stable but Snowden will have to watch from Dubai where he is preparing his two top three year olds Sepoy and Helmet for their assignments on Dubai World Cup night on Saturday.
Parr has only recently returned from an enforced lay off due to a stress fracture to his L5 vertebrae and is excited to be riding in a Group 1 race.
“For the first month I was pretty much on the lounge watching TV, watching movies. I tell you, it’s alright for a day but for the other 29 you get over it. It was doing my head in there for a while,” Parr said.
“It was frustrating watching races and seeing horses you probably could have been on winning and you’re not there riding them.”
“As frustrating as it was being out, I hadn’t had a good period of time off since I was an apprentice so it was good to get away a little bit and give my mind a freshen up. As much as there were negatives it was good for me as well.”
Parr has ridden in several Group 1 races and has learnt to remain relaxed in his preparation leading up to race day.
“The first half a dozen that I rode in, I suppose I went about things differently and tried to treat it like a different race,” he said.
“But when I won on Skilled I thought, `no bugger it, I’m going to treat this like a normal race, ride him the best I can and see what happens.”
Parr is having his first ride on the three year old, taking over from Kerrin McEvoy and is confident he has the ability to figure in the finish.
“He’s definitely got the ability. When he won that race at Caulfield in the spring, he rattled home and he looked like a star,” Parr said.
Galah will be going into tomorrow’s Guineas at his third run from a spell and wasn’t disgraced when two and a half lengths ninth to Mosheen in the Group 1 $500,000 Turnpoint Royal Randwick Guineas (1600m) at Randwick on March 17.
Snowden has put the winkers back on Galah who is an $18 chance and a bold showing can be expected if he can reproduce his Spring form which included a win over Highly Recommended in the Group 3 $250,000 Inglis Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on October 29.
