Godolphin’s three year old filly Multaja can give Brisbane’s premier jockey Jeff Lloyd a Group 1 send off if she can win the 2019 Group 1 $500,000 Sky Racing Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Lloyd has locked in July 13 as the day he has set to retire from the saddle and Multaja is listed as one of the main chances in the last Group 1 race of the 2018 – 2019 Australian Racing Season.
“Of course it would be great to win another one,” Lloyd told The Courier-Mail.
Lloyd replaces Blake Shinn on Multaja who is coming off a last start win in the Listed $125,000 Mittys Helen Coughlan Stakes (1200m) at Doomben on June 1 and is on the third line of betting for the Tattersall’s Tiara at $7.50 at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Godolphin’s blue army dominates the top of the Tattersall’s Tiara market order with Multaja’s stablemates Pohotukawa at $5 and Savatiano at $6.50 the top two picks in the betting for the Group 1 for the fillies and mares.
Multaja has raced once over the Tattersall’s Tiara distance of 1400m for an eighth to Smart Melody in the Group 2 $200,000 Schweppes Thousand Guineas Prelude at Caulfield during the 2018 Melbourne Spring Carnival.
Lloyd is confident that trainer James Cummings will have a more mature Multaja ready to handle the step up to the 1400m for the first time this preparation.
“She looks like a filly that does switch off well, which is always a plus,” Lloyd said.
“Those top stables normally have a good idea. They don’t put them in (a race they can’t win) because there’s plenty of other options. I’m pretty sure they think she will get it.”
“I think (Multaja) has a fair chance. She’s in the top three in the betting. (Godolphin) phoned and asked me to ride her. It’s always good to ride for them.”
Multaja will jump from barrier ten if all five emergencies fail to gain a start in the final eighteen horse Tattersall’s Tiara field while Pohotukawa is likely to jump from gate four with Blake Shinn in the saddle and Savatiano will move in three spots from her original fifteen marble with Tommy Berry retaining the mount.