Female Jockey Lindop Wins Victoria Derby, Will Ride Moatize in Melbourne Cup

By winning the G3 Saab Quality, Moatize punched his ticket to Tuesday's G1 Melbourne Cup, and trainer Bart Cummings (who is seeking his 250th G1 victory and 12th Melbourne Cup) has announced Clare Lindop will ride. Lindop became the first female jockey in the Melbourne Cup in 2003, and she picks up her fourth cup ride this year on Moatize who she has never ridden.

Lindop usually rides for Leon Macdonald, with whom she won earlier this year the G1 Magic Millions 2-year-old Classic with the More Than Ready filly Augusta Proud. She bested that on Saturday by becoming the first female jockey (after over 150 years of race history) to win the $1.5 million G1 AAMI Victoria Derby, as she rode Macdonald’s 90-1 longshot Rebel Raider to a clear victory over 1-2 favorite Whobegotyou, the promising Street Cry gelding who won both the G1 Caulfield Guineas and G2 AAMI Vase in October. A $150,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast purchase, Rebel Raider paid a whopping $193.00 win, $46.70 place and $24.60 show.

The upsets at Flemington continued with Guy Walter-trained maiden Rocha nosing out Miss Scarletti in the G2 Wakeful Stakes, paying $100.90 win, $33.60 place, and $30.60 show.

You can never count Gai Waterhouse out when big races are on the line, so it was no surprise that she and jock Nash Rawiller took down two consecutive Flemington prizes: Northern Meteor won the G1 Stud Stakes, while Theseo nosed out Barbaricus in the G1 Mackinnon Stakes. Unfortunately, though, her Royal Discretion failed in the G3 Travel Insurance Stakes.

Once the Melbourne Cup posts are drawn, I'll attempt some analysis and look forward to hearing everyone else's picks.