Star apprentice gets call-up for Sir Charles Road

[Chief Stipe]

Glynn Schofield attends to his stricken colleague Andrew Adkins.

A two-horse fall in the opening race at Randwick today has opened the door for the rising star of Sydney apprentice ranks Robbie Dolan to ride Sir Charles Road in the Sydney Cup.

Andrew Adkins, who partnered the Kiwi stayer into third place in last year’s Sydney Cup, was taken to hospital after his mount War Baron and the Glynn Schofield-ridden Persan crashed as they crossed the finish line in the Listed Kings of Sydney Sport Mile.

Schofield quickly got to his feet and was first to attend Adkins, who lay prone on the track. Medics then took over and after attending to the stricken jockey he was place in the ambulance and transported to hospital.

Ironically both fallen horses, who appeared to escape injury, are trained by Rosehill-based David Payne. Completing a forgettable day for Payne, his third runner on the card, race two entry Tarka, had to be late scratched after suffering a bout of colic soon after arriving at the track.

With a maximum 20-horse field and a weight of 53 kilos in the Sydney Cup, choices were limited for Sir Charles Road, but co-trainer Lance O’Sullivan was satisfied with his and owner David Archer’s decision to engage Dolan.

“I’ve heard some good raps on the lad. It’s unfortunate what’s happened to Andrew and we hope he’s going to be alright, so as it stands I’m all for giving a young rider his chance,” the former champion jockey said.

Irish-born Dolan is having a big season with 61 winners in New South Wales to date, 28 of them in the city to place him on the top-10 table.

Today’s opening race was win by the Hayes-Dabernig-trained Power Scheme, a colt by Fiorente who dug deep to hold out the spirited challenge of the John Sargent-trained Dissident filly Foxborough.

Racing is taking place under sunny skies on a track rated Soft 5.

 

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