Apprentice Fred Kersley will be out to add to a recent sequence of winners at Saturday metropolitan meetings when he heads to Flemington.
Kersley has managed to ride at least one winner at each of the past five Saturday meetings in Victoria, starting with a winning double on the Pakenham Cup program on December 7.
He claimed the feature on Etah James for his boss Matt Cumani and also won on stablemate Future Score.
A week later Kersley won aboard the Cumani-trained Ryan’s Fender at Flemington before getting another winner at the track seven days later on the Mike Moroney-trained Chicago Cub.
Kersley’s association with Ryan’s Fender continued with another win at The Valley on December 28 and he got the job done on the Mark Kavanagh-trained Montenegro Man last Saturday at Caulfield.
The 20-year-old has the ride on Ryan’s Fender again in Saturday’s Bluegrass Bar Trophy (2000m).
He is also booked to ride the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Beauty with the mare second favourite in an early market for The Club Stand Handicap (1100m).
“I’m just building some nice momentum at the moment but I’m thankful and lucky enough I’ve got the support of Matt Cumani and his loyal owners,” Kersley said.
“I’m also starting to get a lot of opportunities outside for Mark Kavanagh and Mike Moroney.
“But Ryan’s Fender and Etah James were a big key to me building into some momentum and form.
“I’m at the right stage of my career now where I’m learning a lot as I go.”
Kersley has three wins and one minor placing from five rides on Ryan’s Fender, including the back-to-back city wins.
“Ryan’s Fender has been great so far,” Kersley said.
“He’s come back a different horse this preparation and for him to string two nice wins together is very good.
“He’s been working very well and quite competitive with Future Score at home and we saw the other day Future Score ran a nice race at Caulfield (2nd, Lord Stakes).”
Future Score is among Ryan’s Fender’s opposition on Saturday and was the $3.10 favourite on Thursday just ahead of Ryan’s Fender at $3.90.
