Capannello will have his second race start in the 2016 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude for Colts & Geldings and young apprentice Jye McNeil will ride the promising colt.
Jye McNeil will ride Capannello in the 2016 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude at Caulfield this weekend. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
Mark Zahra rode Capannello when he made his racing debut with a tough second behind Cohesion in the Listed Blue Diamond Preview (1000m) at Caulfield on Australia Day, but Zahra elected to take the ride on expensive yearling Revolving Door.
McNeil has done the majority of the work on Capannello in the lead-up to the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude and Griffiths told Sky Racing HQ that the young hoop was more than deserving of his chance to ride in the Group 3 event.
“Jye is a terrific kid,” Griffiths said.
“He has a great work ethic, he is a good rider and he has been riding a lot of winners.
“He has his eye in and he deserves an opportunity to take his ability to the next level.
“When Mark Zahra decline the opportunity to ride Capannello, we thought why not.
“Jye is there doing the work, he is doing everything right and from barrier five hopefully he can get in a good position.”
While Zahra was not impressed enough with the effort of Capannello to ride him in the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude, Griffiths was very happy with the debut effort of the Onemorenomore colt in the Blue Diamond Preview.
Griffiths said that he has always had a strong opinion of Capannello and he could not be happier with the condition of the juvenile, but he admits he faces a tough challenge against the like of Power Trip, Flying Artie, Weatherly and Defcon.
“Capannello was really good,” Griffiths said.
“It is a very strong race on Saturday, but you can’t do any more than he did on debut.
“He took a forward position, he was strong to the line, he did everything right and he has trained on well since.
“It didn’t surprise us that he was the strongest of my three because he went to the races in really good order and two-year-old races is about being sound and not being shin sore enough to be competitive.
“It is just a question of whether he is good enough on Saturday with a bit more depth in the race, but we will find out.
“I think he will appreciate the extra 100 metres and hopefully that is the case.”
Capannello is currently available at 2016 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude odds of $20, while Defcon ($4.60) is a narrow favourite from Weatherly ($5), Flying Artie ($5.50), Star Turn ($7) and Cohesion ($8.50).
