Matthew Chadwick got the job right on the shortest-priced favourite of the day for John Size and now he hopes it won't be quite as long before he rides his next winner for the yard.
Chadwick scored a double with Size-trained Silly Buddies and Multivictory for his regular provider, Tony Cruz; the win for Size was a breakthrough for the jockey who had just one previous ride for him this season.
"I've only had one winner for John before and that was Showtime three years ago, so hopefully winning this one will make John think of me in the future," Chadwick said. "I know I've usually got one for Tony and it was just lucky today that there was an opportunity to get on this one when Tye Angland couldn't make the weight and Keith Yeung [Ming-lun] had committed to another ride.
"But John seems to be spreading his rides around more jockeys this season in general so I would like to think this will help me get a few more there."
In fact, it was only Chadwick's 16th ride for Size in his career and two of those were drawn by ballot in legs of the International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley. Punters were sure that Chadwick was on a good thing, though, with Silly Buddies firming from $21 to $15.50 before getting the job done nicely enough after a few concerns about getting through the pack.
"I was never that worried, I thought they would open up and when they did, he just took his time to get through the gap - he needed time to balance up and change legs but that's just immaturity," Chadwick said.
"He can't do more than he has done, winning his two starts, and he's only going to get stronger."
Multivictory was a horse Chadwick has ridden often, on the other hand, and sooled him across to lead and hold off the challengers but doesn't believe that it's the way to ride him.
"I think he appreciated going up from 1,200m to 1,400m but he did get a bit lost out in front," Chadwick said.
"I had to work a little to cross them but they left me alone once I got there and he was able to get a breather.
"Still, I'm sure that when he draws a better barrier and there's a horse that wants to lead and we can sit behind them, then you'll see the best of him. I've gone back on him from wide draws before and he has run on strongly so I know he can do it but it's a case of getting the right circumstances."
