HE had superstar jockeys Glen Boss and Craig Williams offering their services but leading Wodonga trainer Brian Cox won’t mess with a winning formula at Caulfield on Saturday.
Cox has opted to stick with promising Leeton apprentice John Kissick on star filly Sumakaray.
Cox, who continued his hot start to the year with a double at Wangaratta yesterday, confirmed he would return to Melbourne with the exciting three-year-old in Saturday’s $80,000 fillies plate over 1100 metres.
And Kissick, who rode another Cox-trained filly, Yuleba, to victory at the juicy odds of $13 in the opener yesterday, will again get the job.
“The young man is going very well,” Cox said of Kissick.
“He’s still got a few things to learn but he’s getting the experience.
“He can’t claim in Saturday’s race but we’re sticking with him anyway.”
Despite winning five races across the first two meetings at Wangaratta this year, Cox — who trained a treble of winners on January 4 — wasn’t getting carried away with yesterday’s success.
“It’s always nice to get one, especially at odds, but you never get too far ahead of yourself,” Cox said.
“You have good days and you have bad ones.”
The $9 fancy Grassini took out the third race of yesterday’s meeting to hand Cox his second win for the day in hot conditions.
Meanwhile, the Wangaratta training partnership of John and Chris Ledger also claimed a double yesterday.
The Ledgers had back-to-back wins in races 6 and 7 with reliable duo Menchov and Solar Strike.
“You’re always happy with any winner,” Ledger said.
“We don’t have any high- quality horses in work but we’ve got an honest group we’re getting a lot out of.
“It was nice to have a little bit of luck.
“Solar Strike has been really consistent throughout her career and she won very impressively today.”