{"id":344349,"date":"2023-11-05T19:33:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T20:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=344349"},"modified":"2023-11-06T00:03:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T00:03:15","slug":"icons-praise-for-masterful-oliver-as-history-beckons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=344349","title":{"rendered":"Icon's praise for 'masterful' Oliver as history beckons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horse racing<\/a> icon Gai Waterhouse<\/a> has paid tribute to "masterful" jockey Damien Oliver<\/a> as the Aussie champion prepares to hang up the saddle.<\/p>\n

The 51-year-old champion hoop will retire from riding once the Melbourne spring carnival concludes on Saturday week with Stakes day.<\/p>\n

Earlier that week he will attempt to win a record-equalling fourth Melbourne Cup<\/a>, having been booked to ride Alenquer for trainer Mike Moroney in the $8 million race that stops a nation.<\/p>\n

FORM GUIDE:<\/strong> Expert's comprehensive analysis on 2023 Melbourne Cup runners\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Why Aussie icon kept riding after double family tragedy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ULTIMATE GUIDE:<\/strong> Everything to know about the 2023 Melbourne spring carnival\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffOliver has previously won Australia's favourite race aboard Doriemus (1995), Media Puzzle (2002), and Fiorente (2013).<\/p>\n

His latest Melbourne Cup triumph handed Waterhouse her first, and to date her only, victory in the feature event.<\/p>\n

\"Damien<\/p>\n

He will forever hold a special place in her heart, as well as that of the entire nation thanks to a career that's reaped \ufeff2797 race wins, 126 of those at Group 1 level, and just shy of $250 million in prizemoney for connections.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"Damien is a one-off. He is a champion jockey, you only have to look at his record," Waterhouse – a long-time Victoria Racing Club ambassador – told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"He's very much a form student jockey, so he studies the form, he knows how to place horses or where he thinks they're placed.<\/p>\n

"He's got a wonderful clock in his head for timing. You only have to go back to the success when we won the Melbourne Cup in 2013.<\/p>\n

"He's a masterful jockey, fabulous."<\/p>\n

Waterhouse says seeing Oliver win a fourth Melbourne Cup would be "fabulous… so long as he doesn't beat me".<\/p>\n

Bobbie Lewis and Harry White are the only jockeys to have won the Melbourne Cup four times.<\/p>\n

When Oliver was booked to ride Alenquer the horse \ufeffwas paying upwards of $101 with bookies.<\/p>\n

\"Fiorente<\/p>\n

By the following afternoon TAB had brought it in to a $34 chance, and Oliver agrees it's far from the worst horse in the race.<\/p>\n

"It's good to get one on my last dance, you might call it," Oliver told the Herald Sun.<\/p>\n

"I read that he was 100-1 and I don't think he should be quite that price.<\/p>\n

'Whether he can win it or not I'm not sure, but I'm sure he can finish closer to the front, that is for sure. He is not without a chance."<\/p>\n

Oliver has arguably been the most recognised, and publicly popular, jockey in Australia for some decades.<\/p>\n

His most memorable victory came in the 2002 Melbourne Cup, when he rode Media Puzzle to victory just days after his brother Jason died as the result of a race fall.<\/p>\n

\"MELBOURNE<\/p>\n

\ufeffHe said after the race, "the Melbourne Cup doesn't mean anything to me any more. I'd give it away right now to have my brother back".<\/p>\n

The Victoria Racing Club is planning to farewell Oliver properly on Stakes day, which will feature his last ever ride at Flemington.\ufeff<\/p>\n

A week beforehand, on Derby Day this week, the $500,000 Group 2 Linlithgow Stakes will be renamed in Oliver's honour.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Horse racing icon Gai Waterhouse has paid tribute to "masterful" jockey Damien Oliver as the Aussie champion prepares to hang up the saddle. The 51-year-old […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=344349"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344353,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344349\/revisions\/344353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/338374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}