Jockey Blaike McDougall relocates to Victoria to target Melbourne spring carnival

McDougall has made the tough decision to base himself in Victoria in the short-term with the spring carnival set to get into full swing in the coming weeks.

It means he will be unable to see his partner and young family who are based in NSW under Racing Victoria's strict COVID protocols.

He returned to the saddle at Benalla on Monday after almost a month on the sidelines due to injury and spending time in quarantine.

McDougall is hoping the three month suspension handed down to high-profile Victorian based jockeys Jamie Kah, Ben Melham, Mark Zahra last week could lead to more opportunities in the highly competitive Victorian jockey ranks.

Ethan Brown and apprentice Celine Gaudray were also slapped with a three month ban for breaching COVID-19 restrictions.

McDougall's manager Hayden Kelly said the in-form hoop was hoping to capitalise on any opportunities after riding 184 winners last season to finish runner-up in the national jockeys premiership.

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"He quarantined in Albury for a couple of weeks in the bubble and now he has to remain in Victoria, in the border bubble areas for two weeks," Kelly told Racing.com

"He can still ride in those border bubble areas, so he can still go to Bendigo, Mildura, Swan Hill and those places along the border.

"But the plan is once the two weeks is complete to then head to Melbourne and have a crack."

Kelly said that McDougall was residing in a motel in Wangaratta.

He would ride at Echuca on Saturday, September 11 before being permitted to ride anywhere in Victoria from September 12.

"He's planning to have a crack for at least a couple of months and see how he goes, going to the jumpouts everywhere and seeing where the support comes from," Kelly said.

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