Promising apprentice Ace Lawson-Carroll can’t wait to make the most of his opportunity on one of New Zealand’s fastest horses at Trentham on Saturday.
Lawson-Carroll, who is apprenticed to Shaun Clotworthy in South Auckland, will ride the Ben Foote-trained Babylon Berlin (All Too Hard) in the open sprint, with his 2kg claim reducing the Group One performer’s impost from 62kg to 60kg for the Happy 80th Birthday Garry Chittick 1100.
A multiple Stakes winner, Babylon Berlin has four times placed at the elite level, including a narrow defeat in last season’s Telegraph at Trentham, going down by a long neck behind Levante (NZ) (Proisir).
Lawson-Carroll has ridden sprinters the quality of Group One winner Bonny Lass (NZ) (Super Easy) and Sacred Satono (NZ) (Satono Aladdin) on race day in the past, but said he is excited at the prospect of partnering Babylon Berlin.
“My boss Shaun is good mates with Ben Foote and that’s helped secure the ride and my riding is going well and I’d like to think that’s been a factor in me getting on her as well,” Lawson-Carroll said.
“It’s a great opportunity for me. Hopefully now she can win. She’s got a lot of black type to her name and drawn well on Saturday, she should be right there and hopefully find a good kick on the turn.
“She’s a mare who looks to get out and get going and I don’t think the weight is going to be that much of an issue.”
Foote is expecting a forward showing from Babylon Berlin, confident his stable star is well recovered from a throat infection and an eye ailment.
“Everything seems good with her. She seems back to 100 per cent,” he said.
“We had that throat issue and she got a bit of bacteria in her eye and that took a bit to recover, so we’ve just taken our time.
“Unfortunately, she’s ready at not the best time of the year and there’s not really a lot around, hence why she’ll head down to Trentham.
“We’ll just go race by race with her. She might have one or two races and then we could freshen her up and get ready for the spring or if she did race well at Trentham, we could look overseas. But we’re not making any decisions till after Saturday.”
Later on the card, Lawson-Carroll will get the chance to secure his first Stakes win when he rides Lincoln Falls (Dundeel) for Palmerston North-based trainer Lisa Latta in Saturday’s feature, the Listed James Bull Rangitikei Cup (1600m).
“I really like Lincoln Falls in the Stakes race. He’s been running some really nice races and is in good form going into this one,” Lawson-Carroll said.
“Lincoln Star should be a good chance in the Rating 75 stayers race earlier in the day for the same stable too.”
Lawson-Carroll, 19, is in his third full season of riding and is approaching 50 wins. He is ambitious but wants to ensure he gets a thorough grounding in riding before spreading his wings.
“It’s a bit harder now, I’m only claiming two kilos, but hopefully I can keep on getting on good horses and riding for good trainers like Lisa Latta and things can keep going like they are now,” he said.
“I’ve still got to learn my craft here but if I get the chance to travel further afield I’d grab that opportunity with two hands. I’m always wanting to learn more and improve.
“I study the form a lot, not just my horse but the other horses in the field and how I expect different riders to ride their horse. My boss’ son Harrison Clotworthy goes through my past rides with me and that’s been a great help too.”
